Once Upon a Cell Phone
by Miss Selah
Summary: Kagome accidentally brings a cell phone to the past... BUT IT WORKS? What's that got to do with our favorite monk?
1. Chapter 1

**-October 26th, 2009: If you are reading this, you should be aware that it was written 6 years ago by a 13 year old. Please be kind with your flames, I am much older and a much better writer now. Ignore all A/Ns, they are the random ramblings of a 13 year old and those should never be listened to. Other than that, enjoy if you can.- **

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Chapter One

She supposed it was just her luck. After all, what other girl in the history of the world would have jumped through a magical time traveling well only to find herself face to face with a mean faced demon who was demanding her to give him her jewels before he forced her to become his bride. How many times was that now? Kagome had lost track after the thunder brothers. Sure, they hadn't really wanted to make her their bride (she shuddered at the thought of being married to Manten), but it followed the same concept none the less.

And, to make matters worse, she had come early to surprise Inuyasha. So of course he wouldn't be waiting for her. He was probably at Keade's hut grumbling about not having enough food, her caring more about her school work than about gathering his jewel shards (which, in all honesty, she had to admit that she did care more about her school work, disturbing as the concept was, than hunting down some jewel with unimaginable powers), and beating the living hell out of Shippo. She would sit him a good one for that later.

Shippo would be crying. For what, she had only to guess. For Inuyasha chasing her away, for her going home and leaving him with Inuyasha, for Inuyasha not chasing after her, for Inuyasha hitting him hard on the head…

The list went on for a while.

Sango would be back at the village, probably sighing as Inuyasha atacked Shippo, long apst the point of caring, or sitting out by the river watching the sun set in the distance. It was her favorite thing to do, especially since it was nearing the one-year anniversary of her village's massacre.

Sometimes Kagome wondered if she was more suicidal than everyone thought. After all, when Kohaku was finally dead, she had told them herself that she didn't feel right about being the only demon slayer left…

"Shards please." The ugly demon said as he held out one scaled hand towards Kagome with menace and something Kagome was afraid she could identify as lust in his eyes as he lulled out his tongue. Kagome resisted the urge to squeal when a large gloop of saliva hit her hand like a giant, smelly, sticky raindrop. Inuyasha- village. Shippo- village. Sango- grave site. All that left was Miroku…

Kagome wasn't really all that sure where Miroku was at. Either he was hitting on some girls, spying on some girls, conning someone…

Okay, he could be anywhere.

Kagome was on her own.

Man, she hated being on her own.

Kagome smiled a sickly sweet smile and pointedly wiped her hand off on the demon's vest. It looked like soft fur, but it was course and rough, like a long haired Dalmatian or something. She wanted to hurl when the demon's eyes rolled back into his head and he let out a deep throated moan. _Was that his_ chest Kagome really didn't want to ask. Instead, she decided to do the one thing she was sure she could do with most demons, humans, half demons, perverted monks…

Well, maybe not the last one.

"I shall be your bride and give you my sacred jewel shards." Kagome said with a smile and a nod. The demon (Kagome still wasn't sure on the breed. It seemed to be some form of furry reptile.) reached for Kagome. But Kagome simply held up a hand. "But I am so shy." She said, turning her face away in what could appear to an onlooker as humility. In reality, Kagome was turning her head away from his breath. "Could we speak with my father first? I must let him know of my decision to marry. I live in a village not far from here." Kagome said as she looked pointedly at Kaede's village.

The demon looked skeptical, but Kagome could tell that it would take only a few more words to persuade him to leave the safety of the outer reaches of the village and go straight to the center- where Inuyasha was sure to be and sure to defend her.

If not, well, the villagers certainly knew how to skewer a good lizard.

And skin a rabbit.

_Seriously, what sort of demon is he?_ Kagome wondered.

"Please, my father will surely say yes! After all, who could say no to such a powerful and handsome demon such as yourself?" Kagome said as she stroked his chest and placed her tone in "mild seductress" mode.

The demon merely nodded, and puffed out his chest. Kagome smirked inwardly. She knew how men worked. Stroke their ego or stroke their...

Kagome didn't finish her train of thought. He reached for her; however, he never got a hold on her. It was only seconds after her speech when Kagome saw a rustle of leaves and heard the clink of metal that signified her favorite monk.

"Down Kagome!" Miroku yelled as he let loose his wind tunnel. Kagome fell back into the well, grabbing on to the sides to keep herself from going back into her own time period, and listened to the shrieks of the demon as he was swallowed in to an oblivion. Kagome heard the screams of the air as it ripped all around her, and she wanted to cry. This… this sound, this wind, this feeling of emptiness that she always had when she was near the open wind tunnel… That was hell. Crashing, burning, hissing. Commanding everything be drawn to it. Demanding…

"_Come to me, my child." _Kagome heard a voice that was unmistakable. It was smooth as silk, as deadly as a black mamba._ "Let me hold you." _The owner of the voice was a liar and decietful. He would kill her, she knew, and as soon as she realized it, the voice turned angry. "_Let me rip you to pieces. Let me drink your blood, and eat your flesh. When we are done, I will draw you a bath from your own blood, and hold your head under while I bath you."_ It did sound like something Naraku would say. Would do, for that matter. Kagome felt the tears welling in her eyes. _What must it be like,_ Kagome wondered, _to know that your life was going to end? Did it hurt, like it hurt her to stand near the open wind? Was it soft and soothing, like it had sounded when it first spoke to her? Was it…_

"Kagome? Can I give you a hand up?" Miroku asked as he leaned over the well. He didn't wait for her to answer- he simply hoisted her into the air with one hand while the other braced himself against the lip of the well.

Kagome adjusted herself and gave Miroku a curt "thank you" before she grabbed her backpack- which had been laying on the ground where she had thrown it over before she had tried to climb up- and threw it over her shoulder. Or tried to. Miroku took that and held it- slung over one shoulder- and herded her towards town. Kagome scoffed.

"What are you, a sheep dog?" She asked sarcastically.

"What are you, some mail order bride?" Miroku retorted with a smirk, but his eyes shwon with anger.

Kagome stutter stepped. _Where had Miroku learned about those?_ Surely she hadn't mentioned the term, and they definitely didn't have them yet…

Kagome shrugged it off. Maybe she had mentioned them once, and she simply didn't remember the conversation. But that was weird. She normally remembered every conversation she had with Miroku. Maybe not with any of the others, but her conversations with Miroku had always been so- insightful that they always struck a cord in her memory.

Kagome stopped in her tracks and tried to grab her back pack, but Miroku simply lifted it above his head- without stopping or looking behind him- and continued the trek to the village.

Kagome sighed. Whatever. The bag had been heavier than usual anyways…

"Kagome! Miroku!" Shippo screamed as he launched himself off of a fence post that surrounded the villages tiny vegetable fields and on to Kagome's shoulder. "You're back early!" Shippo stated the obvious. Miroku glared at Shippo with mild jealously as he squirmed around on Kagome's shoulders, gripped her back, sniffed a few times, and circled again like some sort of strange squirrel…

"Hey, Miroku! You're back early! I thought it would take you way longer than two days to get here and back to Hachi's!" Inuyasha said as he looked up from his place helping out in the field. "And Kagome! You're never here on time! What a shock!" Inuyasha told her as he leaned against his pickax.

Kagome shrugged. "And you never do more work than is absolutely necessary, yet here you are helping out the village in the farms. How the weak have risen, Inuyasha!" Kagome said with a teasing smile on her face.

"Kagome! You're back early!" Sango's voice came in a sing-song tone as she too worked diligently in the fields, most likely against every male in the village's command. "I thought that you weren't suppose to be here until you finished your tests!"

Kagome sighed. _Why does everyone seem to expect for her to_ always _be later than she said?_ A voice in her head told her because other than today, she always was, but she pointedly ignored it. "Well, I finished the last of tehm a few hours ago and decided to come back tonight instead of in the morning!"

Then, as if it had just been told to her, Kagome looked up at Miroku. "You went to Hachi's? You shouldn't be back until tomorrow. Even with riding on Hachi, it _always_ takes you at least three days to get there and back. What _were_ you doing by the well?" Kagome asked Miroku in the same way a child would ask their parents what was in their Christmas presents.

Who was Miroku to deny such a bright and pretty smile?

Of course, he couldn't tell her the truth.

He couldn't tell her that he had been camping out by the well, waiting for her when he wasn't working on the DNA. Destroy Naraku Association. He supposed Naraku hadn't even began to reek havoc again in her time yet. But in his time…

His time period was not 1500 A.D. His time period was more 700 N.R. Naraku's reign. Approximately 800 years after her time period. No, his mission was top secret.

"Actually, Kagome, I had to come back early. I realized I had forgotten something." Miroku said. He had tried to come up with a better lie, but for some reason (a/n: mostly my inability to function when I am exhausted) he couldn't think of a better one.

Kagome's eyes narrowed. Miroku's pupil's thinned. Somewhere behind them, someone shouted out that he had found oil. And Kagome knew Miroku was lying.

_Of course she would know!_ Miroku thought to himself. _She's not an idiot and it was a pretty bad lie!_ Miroku would have to get better at it quickly.

Inuyasha was about to say something- or had already said something and it was so stupid that their ears simply tuned it out as being useless information- when a loud, shrill ring pierced the air. Shippo jumped. Inuyasha jumped. Kagome even jumped. Let's just skip to the part where I say everyone who heard the ring jumped. Except for Miroku. Miroku simply paled as he turned around and looked at Kagome's backpack- which was still resting on his shoulder comfortably. He dropped it- gently- and unzipped it. Slowly, carefully, he pulled out a thin, black cell phone with the word **Motorola** in big silver lettering on the cover. Noticing the number, he flicked it open quietly. Everyone stared at him as if he was crazy. Kagome stared in simple disbelief.

"Sorry Kagome. It's for me." Miroku said as he pushed the green phone button that activated talk. "Can this wait, Suuhai? I kinda can't talk right now." Miroku said. He nodded once, then shrugged. "Well, you see, you didn't locate my cell, you located another time traveler's cell." _What's her name?_ Kagome heard a faint Scottish accent over the line. "Higurashi Kagome." _Is she a spawn? Only Reincarnations and shades of Naraku are suppose to pass through._ "No, she's clean. Miko." _Is she single? _"No." Miroku said, and Kagome noticed something of… disappointment flash through his eyes. She shook her head. She was imagining things. Just like she was imagining this phone call. There was no way her cell phone worked in the feudal era. No towers! No satellites! No electronics! And even stranger, how did Miroku know how to use her phone? She had to be dreaming. It was the only logical explanation.

Her thoughts were cut off when she heard the faint click of her phone turning off. Miroku turned o face them, and, rubbing his head in embarrassment, he smiled. "Well, I guess now would be a good a time as any to tell you that I'm from the future as well. My name is Sei Miroku, and I am the head of DNA, an organization dedicated to destroying Naraku." Miroku saluted mockingly. "Nice to met you all. Again."

Fly's were being caught in mouths for some time after that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Kagome pinched herself a she stared at Miroku in disbelief. Nope, still asleep. She had to be. Why else would Miroku be standing there with his loopsided grin, admitting he was from the future and using _her_ cell phone.

She pinched herself again. Yup, still dreaming.

Miroku sighed and grabed Kagome's hands. "Stop it Kagome. Look, you've already got a red mark on your arm." Miroku clucked his tongue as he inspected it to be sure she hadn't broken her skin at any point.

Kagome looked at Miroku in what could only be called disbelief. There was no better word for it yet. She had to be asleep. Maybe in her sleep, Buyo was scratching at her, making her think she was pinching herself. Yes, that made perfect sense. So, she did the next best thing.

With out a word, Kagome stood up straight and walked quickly away from the village.

Sango, Inuyasha, and Shippo all moved to follow, but when Miroku held out his Shajoku (sp?), the halted to a stop.

Miroku shook his head lightly before he spoke. "Please let me take care of this one. It's just something I've… got to do…"

Inuyasha was about to move to protest, but Sango quietly said. "I agree." And Inuyasha simmered down.

As Miroku began to walk away, Sango sighed. There he goes again… Off after Kagome. It had always been him or Shippo to calm her down. Sango shot a well placed glare at Inuyasha, who promptly shuddered.

And she had always been left with _him_.

When Inuyasha turned away from her, grumbling, Sango laughed, mood remarkably lighter. "Such a child…" She groaned as she knelt down next to where he had sat in a rather familiar pouting position.

Inuyasha scoffed.

"What was that?" Sango said, ice lacing her voice, but warmth still in her eyes.

If the voice she had developed to affect him, and only him, had done it's job, it didn't show. "I don't see why you would want him to run off after her, either. Aren't you in love with him?"

Sango blushed lightly. Everyone they ran in to seemed to assume that! She wondered why… she had never really done anything particular to hint that she might have feelings in the slighest towards him…maybe it was because everyone else had been so well placed, aside from the two off them. Kirere was her faithful companion, Kagome loved Inuyasha, Shippo was Kagome's adopted son… but Sango and Miroku didn't really have a place. Sango shrugged off a laugh as she thought for a moment what everyone's expression would be if she told them who she was really in love with…

"Sango, why do you take this from him? You love him, and you've never let anyone walk all over you…" Inuyasha pointed out. Sango sent him one cool glare. _Save for you…_ she thought before she spoke, choosing her wording carefully.

"First off, Inuyasha, I think that this is something that they have to deal with together. Think about it. If Miroku is from the future, and it really isn't so hard to imagine, compared to some of the things we see everyday, don't you think that there are some future things that they may need to discuss?"

Inuyasha didn't answer. He wasn't exactly the smartest person in the world when it came to the opposite sex, but he knew enough that you were never, _ever_ supposed to interrupt their rantings. "And secondly, Inuyasha, I can't seem to remember ever telling anyone that I was in love with houshi-sama. And you're not one to talk. You treat poor Kagome like she was dirt beneath your feet- worse! Something that you can't hate, so you don't even bother paying attention!"

Inuyasha glared at Sango, deciding that when th rant became too much abou thim, it was time to stop her. "She has no backbone! There is a diffrence in you two, you know! At least you have some strength in you!"

Sango's scowl was enough to send Shippo running and Kirere transforming. "You.. how dare you… how dare you insult Kagome like that, you stupid good for nothing mutt!" Sango's voice echoed through the woods and carried on to the village, where the villagers cocked their ears for a chance of gossip material. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SPOILED LITTLE HALF BREED WHO WANTS ONE THING, THEN THE OTHER! WELL, I FOR ONE WONT STAND BY AND WATCH YOU HURT MY BEST FRIEND! SHE LOVES YOU, AND YOU DO NOTHING BUT TREAT HER LIKE SHIT!"

Inuyasha flinched. Sango almost never used curse words. Maybe he had gone a step too far. But still, there was something salvagable.

"She never said it to me, you know."

Sango stopped, her glared lowering at the quiet level of his voice. "What?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "She never told me she loves me, and I never told her that. I told _Kikyo_ that, and look where it got me. So, even if I did love her, which I'm not saying I do, I would never tell her. Love has a funny way of turning around and getting you right here." Inuyasha lowered his shirt just enough to show Sango his one and only scar- a thin circle right through his chest- a scar left by a holy arrow.

Sango wanted to scream out what little right he had to insult love. She wanted to cry and hug him, telling him that there was still room left in this world for love, and she wanted to reach out to touch that scar, his reminder of his first love, his first true betrayal, and see if she could heal it or not.

But she turned and walked back towards the village, leaving Inuyasha to lick his own wounds.

Miroku wondered momentarily if Kagome had finally broken. She really had been through a lot. After all, being raised in a time period where time travel was seemingly impossible, and where demons didn't exist, he supposed that she had been taking it rather well. Too well, in his opinion. But finding out that Miroku, her all-time favorite leach, as she called him, was not only from the future, but from a farther time than her own, well, that had been a perfect example of a case of the straws on the camels back.

Of course, he hadn't expected her to try to _drown_ herself.

Miroku lunged forward when Kagome stopped in front of the lake's edge and simply shoved her head under water. Gripping her strongly by the scruff of her shirt, he pulled her- none too gently- away from the lake's water and out of danger.

"Miroku-sama, what in the world was that for?" Kagome asked, hair dripping down in clumps partially over her eyes.

Miroku would have laughed, under any other circumstances. He would have laughed and fixed her hair with a brotherly indifference. But she had tried to kill herself- and then didn't even seem to realize the catastrophe she had barely managed to avoid. Had her mind cracked along with her spirit?

"What was that for? WHAT WAS THAT FOR? YOU TRY TO DROWN YOURSELF AND YOU ASK ME WHAT MY SAVING YOU WAS FOR!" Miroku didn't even bother to conceal the anger that he had normally tried to keep hidden from the women of this time. But, then again, Kagome wasn't exactly of this time.

Kagome was shaking harder from the laughter than she was being shaken by Miroku- and he was shaking her pretty hard. Miroku backed away from her in fear. Maybe he _had _broken her. But even as he stepped a good five feet from her, she didn't stop laughing. "Miroku-sama, thank you very much for not shaking me any more. But I wasn't trying to kill myself… I was trying to wake myself up!"

Miroku resisted the urge to do a very comical face fault. "You were… trying to wake yourself up?" It made sense, in a Kagome sort of way. Still… "Why would you do that now, and not when you were first pulled in to the past?"

Kagome nodded, then touched her finger tips to her chin. "I guess in a way, I was sort was expecting for something… strange to happen then." Kagome sat down, and Miroku, who took it as an indication that she wasn't done talking, simply thinking of her next words, did like wise.

"You.. were expecting something strange to happen to you?" Miroku asked her, his body moving closer to hers without him even being aware of it.

Kagome nodded, a far off expression on her face. "Yeah… I was pretty ordinary. I went to high school every day, passed every class, came home every night and looked after my little brother. I had great friends and a wonderful family. And nothing ever happened to me."

Kagome tilted her head to one side, so that her face could receive more the the wind that had began to blow. Closing her eyes as she allowed the gentle wind to caress her face, she continued. "Every day it was the same routine. I would get bored a lot, but I had so many things going for me, I couldn't wallow in pity. Besides, my life may not have very interesting, but it was _my_ life. And besides, it could have been a lot worse!" Kagome looked out over the lake water to where the sun was setting. "How's life in the future? Or are you allowed to tell me?"

Miroku sighed. "Well, you definately don't get to enjoy sight like this." His face became deadly serious. "The sun doesn't shine anymore… the miasma in the sky is far to thick. When it rains, and it rains a lot, people die from the poisoned water." Miroku trailed a finger in to the water and let it sit there, as if he were savoring the feel of it. "Water is a valuable commidity in the future. Nobody has any to drink, to bath and all but the strongest are sick." Miroku sighed, pulling his fingers out of the water and flicking them dry. "The strongest ones are trained to fight. The strongest of those go on to be trained to fight against Naraku. And then, once every ten years, one is chosen to be sent back in time to try and kill Naraku." Miroku stopped talking then, his voice sounding as if he had stopped mid sentence.

"But… don't you get to choose? If you want to travel, I mean. If you want to even fight?"

Miroku shook his head. "What choice is there? Fight, be trained, fed, watered, and your family likewise, or be just another of the billions of people who wander around lifelessly and without any hope of survival. The babies are often slaughtered if they aren't strong, and the elders once they can't survive without help." Though Miroku's eyes narrowed, showing he didn't believe in his time periods practices, he still continued on in its defense. "It really is more humane. It's hard enough then without age being a factor."

Kagome sighed. "And I thought that this time is tough!"

Miroku laughed, a deep, hearty laugh, and Kagome felt a strange warmth spread through her stomach that felt suspiciously like pride… pride that she had caused the monk with such a grim future to laugh.

Miroku patted her on the head, an entirely brotherly pat before he leaned her against his chest. "Oh, Kagome-sama… you and I are knidered spirits!"

Kagome looked up at him, and Miroku chuckled. He could just imagine little cat ears tilting to one side in wonder. "How do you figure?"

Miroku shrugged. "Well, we are the only people here who know the wonders of…" Miroku pulled a thin black flip-phone out of his sleeve, "cell phones!"

Kagome giggled and reached for it. "I don't get it, Miroku. How in the world did this work in the past?" Kagome asked, staring at her Motorola as if it would jump out of her hands ad begin to tap-dance.

Miroku dug through his pockets, biting his tongue in a rather comical fashion before he pulled out a two inch by two inch black box. Kagome stared at _it._ Whatever _it_ was. It was blinking brightly, though there were no lights on it. "Miroku…" Kagome began.

"This, Kagome-sama, is the universal adapter. It works in any time period, and on any planet. All you have to do is have the item you want to work within five hundred feet and it will charge it and allow it to work."

Kagome stared in awe. "You mean to tell me… it works with _anything?_" Miroku nodded. "oh…" Then Kagome thought about it a little more. "Hey, that still doesn't explain why _you_ got a phone call on _my_ cell phone."

Miroku sighed and pulled out a _super_ thin phone. Kagome gaped. "It looks like a _credit card!_"

"It's _my_ cell phone." Miroku said as he showed her all sides of it. "What did you expect? After your time period, they started to go back downhill when it came to communication. Think about it. First came mail, and _that_ was pretty damn impressive, then came morse code, which _really_ threw everyone through a loop, then the regular phone, which, come one, it was like a revolution! Then a really big cell phone, which was awesome, then we started to go back downhill. Email was a little like morse code… you have to type out whatever you want to say. And text messaging was _really_ like morse code, because you had to search for all of the little keys and type them in order."

Kagome nodded, surprised that those words actually made sense to her. "So… what you're saying is that in eight hundred years, all scientiest have been able to do via communication is…"

Miroku nodded twice. "Make cell phones smaller… that's it!" Miroku shook his head with a slight chuckle. "Now, pay close attention, This is to complex to explain more than once. In the future, they have a device that can search for any cell phone in _any_ time period."

Kagome nodded. "Okay, that sounds a lot like a global positioning satelite."

Miroku nodded. "Yeah, well that was the base for it. But they can only track the cell phone and call it when it's on." Miroku pushed a button and shook his head twice, chuckling. "You're gonna love this."

Kagome screeched and jumped back when a petite woman appeared over the cell phone. She looked a lot like…

"Good day, Miroku-sama." A tiny version of Kagome told him with a bow.

Kagome gaped. "You… you… how did you do that?" Kagome asked, to excited to be happy.

"I made my greeting you a while ago. Sort of a joke, actually. Since we're both time travelers and all."

"But… how?" Kagome asked, reaching for it.

But Miroku shook his head. "Kagome-sama, this is _my_ cell phone. Please don't touch it with out my permission."

Kagome scoffed and crossed her arms. "You sound like my brother…"

Miroku shrugged. "You can insult me all you want, but you stil aren't going to mess around with my cell phone. Now, if you want to place a greeting, all you have to do is press it against your forehead." He did so to Kagome then. "And think of what you want to have your greeting say or do."

Kagome thought really hard about what she wanted before a lightbulb suddenly went off in her head. "Okay, now what?"

"You pull it away and press this button" He indidcated to a button that read _confirm_. Kagome pushed it and up popped a picture…

…of Miroku.

Miroku stared at it dumbfoundedly. It was perfect! Most of the time, details were missing when the person thinking couldn't recall them. But every detail was there. Six rings on his staff… five earrings… and the beads were wrapped just right around his arm. But there was one extra detail…

"Kagome, why am I wearing prayer beads?"

Kagome giggled. "Keep watching…"

"SIT!" Miroku flinched. In the distance, Inuyasha crashed to the ground. And in the image, mini-Miroku fell flat on his ass.

Kagome fell back, holding her side together as she laughed and laughed. Inuyasha cursed Kagome from a distance. And Miroku, well, Miroku glared.

"Alright then." Miroku pressed it against his forehead, then pulled it away and pressed confirmed and…

Kagome saw a naked version of herself.

"Oh Miroku-sama…" The mini-Kagome moaned as she touched herself.

"I would never do that!" Kagome wailed as she covered "herself" up. "Change it now!"

Miroku sighed. "As you wish, Kagome-chan." Kagome felt the heat on her cheeks rise at the sudden endearment. Miroku had never… he had never referred to any of them with such… familiarness. It was new, and different, and strange.

And Kagome liked it.

She smiled at Miroku with a new warmth in her eyes. "Miroku…" she said, the smile on her face reaching nearly to her eyes. Miroku turned around and saw her like that, smiling at him, with the sun setting at her back, and he felt his breath pulled from his body. That was… Kagome never smiled like that… not at him. Maybw at Inuyasha, though _he_ hadn't ever seen it, and Sango, of course, and Shippo when he did something absolutely adorable. But she had never given him that smile. It was new, and different, and strange.

And Miroku liked it a lot.

Kagome shook her head, and with a kind of bitter sweetness, Miroku knew the moment was gone. "So… you say that that unverisal adapter thingy works with _anything_ from _any_ time period in any _other_ time period?"

Miroku nodded, suddenly wary of Kagome's expression. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Later that evening, Kagome moaned deeply as she bite in to her hot pocket. "Thank you, Miroku-sama."

Miroku looked up at her over a mouthful of Hot Pocket. "Whatever for, Kagome-san?"

Inuyasha wailed something along the lines of "the ramen had better be done when I get there or else" and Kagoem pushed more buttons. "Why, if it wasn't for you and that wonderful adaptor, we'd never be able to have a _microwave_ in the feudal era!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Kagome couldn't believe how her luck had changed. A week ago, she would have been complaining about the poor weather feudal Japan couldn't seem to shake. But then again, a week ago, she couldn't stop and have hot cocoa whenever she wanted.

Sure, it took some _serious_convincing to get Inuyasha to lug the microwave around Japan while she helped him track down those god damned jewel shards, but it only took a little gentle coaxing (SIT! Sit, sit,sit, sit, sit, sit, SIT!) and a few more minor debates (you **BITCH**) and only one cooking accident ("mama, how in the world do you work this thing?" "Shippo! Don't get that too close to the…" zap "EE-OW!" "…water") before they were ready to go, Inuyasha with a rather large microwave tied beneath his haori to his back.

Kagome giggled as she held the umbrella over his head and… well, the microwave.

"What's so funny?" Inuyasha grumbled, mising a growl in to his words.

Kagome bite her bottom lip. She felt the tears threatening to overflow… she just… had to… laugh… After all, Inuyasha did look a bit like the short guy from the hunchback of notre dame right now, except for… taller and… redder…

Miroku caught sight of her current predicament… not so hard, as he had been debating on whether or not he could keep his head if _he_ burst out laughing, and he decided to help.

And what better way than…

"oh look! A village!" Miroku said as he pointed ahead. Kagome giggled and skirted around Inuyasha to get a better view. A village! Yes! Score one for the shikon seekers. This meant that they wouldn't have to spend the night out in the pouring rain!

"I sense an omnious cloud looming over this village…" Miroku said, his face suddenly very sobber.

Sango scoffed in a very Inuyasha like fashion. "I'm sure you do, you vile monk."

Inuyasha nodded. "Aren't you suppose to be the next Buddha? What do you think you're doing, lying to every village we come across. An omnious cloud. Ha! Sango, how many villages have we stayed in in the past month?"

Sango smirked. "I couldn't count it on both hands."

"And how many of them had an actual _omnious cloud_ looming over them?"

Sango raised her hand. "Oh! Oh! I know!"

Inuyasha smirked. "Yes, Sango-san?"

"None!"

"That's right. Do you know why, Sango-san?" Inuyasha asked.

"Sit!" they heard someone call in the distance. When Inuyasha and Sango looked up, they were surprised to see that Shippo, Miroku, and Kagome were already halfway to the village by now. "Since you two have such strong objections with staying in a village, you don't have to come!" Kagome gestured next to Inuyasha. "I left blankets and food that you can put in the microwave!"

Miroku nodded and waved a hand. "And if you guys stay within five hundred feet of the village, you can actually _use_ the microwave!"

Shippo simply stuck out his tongue.

And Sango and Inuyasha, both soaked to the bone and throughly chastised, spent the night under the stars, Or what would have been stars, if the rain had ever let up.

Kagome sighed as she let the hot water of the under ground hot spring seep over her. How rich this village must be to keep everything so beautiful down here! Kagome thought as she paddled along, the water reaching to her breasts even when she stood at her full height.

She was truly surprised! Most villages they came across barely had enough money to feed the hungry, but this one had enough money to have a furnished private bath reserved only for holy people!

Kagome was beginning to think that maybe being a miko wasn't such a half bad thing after all. It had saved her life on more than one occasion (of course, it had gotten her in to trouble on even more occassions, but Kagome was in the mood to be grateful now, so she didn't linger on that too much), and now it had provided her with a warm bath.

Life was good!

But Kagome sighed. If only they would have allowed Shippo to come in with her…

No, it had to be a place where only the pure walked and bathed. No one, not even a human, was allowed to enter the inner chambers of the bath house. But Shippo hadn't been too overly concerned about it. He had just waved his hand and informed her that he was going to go and check on Sango and Inuyasha while she had a few minutes to bathe to herself.

Kagome sighed as she took long, deep strokes over the water. She was definitely going to take her time, she thought as she moaned when the last of the unwanted kinks had been washed away with the scented water.

Kagome washed herself systematically from her feet up in the shallowest of the water, which reached only to her mid drift when she stood tall. Looking at the high ceiling, she noticed deep gauges carved in thick, as if they had been carved out with claws. But looking around, she saw _all_ off the walls held similar markings. She shook her head. Must've been some design or something… she thought as she stood waded to the door, which the bath attendants had closed to allow her privacy. She reached to a high rock where thin, lacy pink robes lay and she wrapped them around herself, appaled that they showed more than they covered. But she sighed. If she was a miko, she had to wear the proper clothing when she came out of a ceremonial bath.

She giggled. She had never been treated so wonderfully before! Sango was going to be so jealous! Then she wouldn't tease Miroku about his methods of getting them rooms anymore, Kagome thought with a sure jerk of her head.

She wrapped the brazen clothe around herself and reached for the door handles, but her happiness faded in to fear when she realized that she had been locked inside.

She was in such a shock that she didn't even notice when a dark outline cut through the water silently behind her.

It had taken less coaxing than Miroku was used to to get the two of them a room for the evening. He hadn't even finished his speech before they were ushered in to a free room at the local inn, absolutely free of charge. And all he had managed to get to was.

"We are but a poor traveling monk and miko, along with our demon adopted son, and we happened to notice that there is a particularly…"

And they had a fully stocked room.

Something seemed horribly amiss.

Horribly, horribly amiss.

Like the fact that he was sitting here eating.

Alone.

Where had Kagome and Shippo run off to? He shrugged as he took a long swig of tea. What did it matter where they had gone to? They'd be back soon. It wasn't as if there was an actual, here he took another swig of tea, omnious cloud drifting just above their heads!

Miroku cocked his ear to one side as he heard a small group of women beneath his window talking in hushed tones.

"Did you hear the news?" One girl, obviously the oldest, asked the other three.

"What news?" They asked so simulteneously that Miroku almost asked them if that was a practiced motion.

Miroku touched his fingers to his eyes. Why was it the world suddenly seemed blurry?

"The elders finally caught a miko and a monk!" The eldest girl squeeled.

The other three gasped. "But that means…"

"That we can finally…"

"Perform the sacraficial rites of the dragon goddess!"

_That doesn't sound good…_ Miroku thought as he continued to eavesdrop.

"Well, where are they now?" A short haired one asked.

The eldest nodded towards a cave not far from the hut. "The miko, I think her name is Kagome, is taking a bath in the dragon's chamber now. Once Eiria sees her, she'll gobble her right up and then we won't have to worry about our crops anymore!"

"But what about the monk?" Another asked.

The eldest shrugged. "He's a man. The elders are simply going to tell him that the miko is waiting for him in the inner bathing house. What do you think he's going to do?"

_Get Kagome the hell out of danger!_ Miroku thought as he tried to stand, but couldn't. His knees simply refused to obey him.

Miroku looked down at them and gave them a chastising flick of his finger. "No, no, no, little knees. We've got to go and save Kagome. She has a way of getting in to such trouble that only other people can get her out of! And if there really is a dragon, she may be eaten! This is no time to be resting." Miroku's words were heavily slurred and he realized, with as much disdain for himself as the villagers, that he had been drugged. He shook his head. How ironic. The first time he had ever taken in enough of anything to have his witsdulled and the stupid villagers didn't even have the decency to let him enjoy it with out worrying about his fellow time traveler.

He looked up, eyes glazed thickly. _Why was he worried about her again?_

While Miroku was trying to figure out why in the world he was so worked up about Kagome, he heard a knock at the door. He made a small sound of compliance that had the elders entering.

"Excuse us, lord monk, but the Lady Kagome requested your presence in the inner bath house." When Miroku's eyes flashed brillanlantly, the elder grew more wary. "She awaits you there now, lord monk." He gave Miroku one quick wink before he ushered him outside.

With two men helping to keep him steady, warning bells rang in Miroku's head. Something here was wrong! Even through his hazed confusion, he knew that something wasn't right.

_Kagome!_ As Miroku drew nearer and nearer to the bathhouse, her name grew louder and louder in his head, as if repeating her name could somehow help him get through whatever was awaiting him on the otherside of the bathhouse doors.

Miroku heard the muffled scream of a girl and he paled. The chanting in his head grew louder and louder, until…

"You'll see her in just a minute, Lord monk." The elder informed him as he motioned for the bath house attendants to bring him some robes. Miroku shook his head as they began to strip him.

"Kago…me." Whispering her name was difficult… his throat seemed to fail him now along with his knees.

"Come on now, lord monk, theinner bath house awaits." One particularly beautiful young maiden said as she ceremoniously slipped open the heavy rock doors with as much grace and ease as if she were opening the doors of a tea house.

Miroku wanted to fight- every instinct told him that he should. There was danger in there… danger and trouble. He knew, with out a shout of a doubt, that if he went in there, he may not come back out.

"Your lady miko awaits you, lord monk." Another woman whispered to him. She was closer than he had expected, her lips grazing his ear as she spoke to him.

"Kagome…" Miroku whispered once more, debating whethere he should go after her or not. Angry red eyes seemed to be glaring at him, taunting him. _She's in there now…_

"Yes, lord monk, and she must grow weary of waiting for you."

Miroku cursed himself eloquently. Since when had he not been in complete control of what words passed his lips?

A girl giggled. "We all have that problem sometimes, lord monk. Do you wish to see your lady?"

_Oh god in heaven, yes._

"She's right through these doors." The girl's voice was laced heavy with innundoe, and Miroku felt his knees moving of their own accord.

_Kagome, Kagome, SAVE KAGOME!_

Even later, Miroku couldn't be sure if he had said the finally two words out loud, but he did know that as soon as he stumbled blindly foreward in to the water, the door had snapped shut behind him like the trap he knew it to be


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Miroku sighed as he began to accept the envitable. He was going to die. And not even one of the two honorable and noble deaths he had planned for himself!

The first, if he couldn't defeat Naraku, and as every day went on, it was becoming more and more obvious that Miroku would not survive the curse Naraku had placed upon him, the wind tunnel would rip and tear at him while he suffered through one last dinner, then excused himself and walked quietly away from everyone and everything he cared about so that they would not be swallowed along with him. And he would just disappear from their lives.

Of course, if he did manage to survive the hell-hole, he planned on dying a long, _long_ time in the future, with his children and grandchildren, all kazaana-free, sitting around his bed as he took his last few breaths.

Sure, planning your death could be considered slightly depressing, and a little ironic, but Miroku did _not_ plan on dying, wading through deep, warm waters to rescue someone else's woman, killed by some unknown enemy he knew to be stalking him just beneath the surface of the water.

But grumbling would get him no where, he knew, and he continued to search the waters for his time traveling companion.

"Kagome? Kagome, where are you?" Miroku inquired softly, frightened but not surprised when he received no answer.

Was she alive? Had she already been hurt? Was she hiding from something and couldn't make a noise for fear of giving away her hiding spot?

Miroku became more frantic in his search "Kagome! Kagome, please, answer me! Kagome!"

Miroku was scanning the water before him and would have never seen it coming. He would have been pulled under water by the dragon and not even had a moment to be afraid before he was swallowed whole. The dragon was deadly silent in the water, like an arrow seeking it's target. If it was not for Kagome, who let out a shrill "MIROKU-SAMA! GET OUT OF THE WATER NOW," Miroku would have met his death before ever having the opportunity to know that death was upon him.

But Miroku had complete faith in Kagome, and as soon as he heard her cry, he leapt out of the water and to the sound of her voice, which was somewhere near his left. Reaching out, his fingertips grazed a small rock formation. Realization hit that _this_ was where Kagome was hiding, and as he searched blindly and quickly for something, _anything_ to pull him up, he felt her hand close around his as the sound of water lapping against rocks- a sound that _he_ hadn't caused, alerted him. He looked down and was surprised to see red eyes that seemed to glow from within glare at him with a silent promise of retribution for escaping her wrath.

"I've got you!" Kagome whispered assuringly, so much in contrast to the evil he felt coming off of the owner of the eyes, as she lead his fingers, still touching the rocks, until they touched what felt like a shallow engravement, like claw marks carved deep in the stone.

Miroku didn't take the time to examine what they were, he just used them to climb nimbly up to where Kagome was hiding. There wasn't much space; in order for them both to fit, Kagome had to press her body between the rock wall and Miroku's, but thankfully, there seemed to be a break in the rocks a few yards behind them, giving off just enough light for Miroku to see the fear on Kagome's face.

Kagome reached up and cupped Miroku's face with her hands before leaning her forehead to his. "Miroku-sama! You're alive! We're alive! And you're here! That means we'll be okay!" Kagome's voice sounded more than a little desperate. It trembled so much it reminded Miroku of the sound of broken gravel being crushed beneath a foot.

"Kagome? Are you alright?" Miroku asked, searching her body for any signs of injury, trying his damndest to ignore the fact that the only thing covering her was the thin pink lace of ceremonial bath robes. Thankfully, the fact that the robes were see-through made it even easier to check her for any unslightly markings.

Kagome nodded her head five times in quick succession, performing her own adminitrations on Miroku as well. It was easier for her to ignore his obvious nudity- after all, she was sure she had to be asleep.

It was easy to pretend that Kagome was fully clothed- after all, if he shut his eyes, all he could see her in was that wonderfully short kimono she insisted on wearing from her time. What wasn't so easy for him was to ignore the sigh of relief that passed from her lips to his when she finished checking him for wounds.

_She had been worried about him!_ Miroku thought with a sort of smug attitude. A voice in his head was screaming _see! Someone does care about me! Take that, Naraku!_

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt her cheek, which was pressed against his, soften with tears. "Kagome, what's wrong?" He asked, wrapping his arms around her and pressing her closer against the wall.

"I thought she got you!" Kagome hiccuped loudly as she held Miroku closer to her- if that was possible.

Miroku wondered for a second what that tone in her voice was before it struck him- it was concern. Genuine, unjudgemental, uncalled-for concern. Brows pulled tightly together in a frown, Miroku tried to remember the last time someone's voice had held _concern_ for him, and was surprised when no one's face appeared in his mind's eye.

"Kagome… I'm fine." Miroku assured her as he allowed himself to take in a deep breath of her air, just to assure himself that _she_ was fine. All of a sudden, a low growl rumbled through the bath chamber.

"What is that?" Miroku asked, still partially unaware of everything… an obvious side-effect of some drug that the villagers must have slipped him. He shook his head as he remembered that he had already figured that out… what else was he not remembering? Something important… something that had triggered him to search and save Kagome… he had an argument with his knees…

"It's a dragon, Miroku-sama." Kagome said, trembling more as she spoke. "But I've never seen a dragon like this one. It's evil, Miroku, much more evil than one creature should be. It radiates the same level of maleviolence as Naraku.

"She is a dragon goddess." Miroku explained, not knowing where he had received his information from. But he knew he was right. "Gods and goddesses are not from the same plane as we are, Kagome. They experience things in much greater emotions. Love, life, happiness… if we experience them as they did, our bodies would cease to function properly. But those are just the _good_ emotions. Wars, violence, hatred- all of the worst come from gods and goddesses. One spark of anger from one is enough to sen dour world in to the dark ages."

"Why would the goddess be anger at us, Miroku-sama?" Kagoem asked, her voice cracking as she spoke. "We didn't do anything!"

Miroku shook his head. "She can't be angry at us… she would have killed us by now if she was. But something doesn't seem right. She doesn't like that we're here, but she won't go out of her way to harm us…"

Something was amiss, Miroku knew, and he didn't like the fact that he didn't know what.

Kagome sighed, released Miroku's neck, and leaned back against the cool walls of the bath house. She looked up at the high ceiling. _So those marks_ were _made from claws then!_

Miroku pressed himself against the opposite wall, doing his best not to look at Kagome's barely clothed body. After all, he couldn't do anything to her. She belonged to Inuyasha, despite what anyone would say.

"Miroku?" He nearly jumped when he heard her voice. Was it just him, or was it… softer than usual?

"Yes, Kagome?" Miroku asked, forgetting to add the ever formal "sama" at the end. He wondered for a moment when he stopped calling her "Lady Kagome," but he couldn't place the time.

"Does it ever hurt?" Kagome asked, looking pointedly away.

Miroku was stunned. "Does what ever hurt, Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head. "Nothing! It's a stupid question. It's really none of my business, after all, and it really isn't all that important anyway…"

Miroku leaned forward just a little bit- with such small quarters, a little bit more and he would have been on top of her- and held his right index finger to her lips. "Does what ever hurt, Kagome?" He repeated the question in a soft voice, giving her permission to fire away.

Kagome stared at his finger tips, which were still touching her lips. Miroku _never_ touched anyone unless it was necessary – or unless he had some other agenda planned, such as copping a feel, which Kagome wasn't sure how she would react to, considering that she was naked and all.

But he was touching her now, and soothing her as the sat above the waters that held the being that would most likely take their lives.

"Does… the _kazaana_ ever hurt you, Miroku?" Kagome asked, her lips barely moving at all beneath his finger tip.

What ever Miroku had been expecting, it hadn't been this.

"Kagome, why would you ask something like that?" Miroku asked, leaning in closer to her… closer… closer…

Kagome shrugged, suddenly very heated up despite the firgid cold of the air around them. "Well… I was thinking about it… death, I mean, and I wondered if it would, you know, hurt."

Of course it would, Miroku knew. Even now, laying passively beneath the clothe around his arm, it was slwoly eating away at him. It was hell- pure and simple. He knew, as his father and grandfather before him, what it would be like to be swallowed in to that hole. It would rip him to pieces. The wind would howl at him- he knew it would. It would howl manically, not so different from the sound of Naraku's laughter, it would burn him as it tore him limb from limb. And he would live inside it, that black hole to hell, and feel the pain for all eternity.

"No Kagome. It doesn't hurt." Miroku lied so easily _he_ almost believed it. But it was more than obvious that Kagome didn't.

"It hurts me sometimes." Kagome said as she held the hand up to her own, the palms facing eachother. Miroku flinched visably, and treid to pull his palm away from hers, but Kagome merely held it in place with her other hand. "Please Miroku." Kagome whispered so pleadingly that he had no choice but to allow her to touch the one place no one else would ever be allowed.

"How does it hurt you, Kagome?" Miroku asked, curious.

Kagome's eyes didn't shed tears, but he had the distinct feeling she was crying inside. "It hurts me when I get to near to it. It feels like… well, hell."

Miroku tried to pull his hand away once more, but Kagome held it firmly in place. Slowly she dropped the hand holding his and just let the palms sit together.

"When you saved me from the demon the other day at the well, it felt like hell. I was so sure that I heard a voice, too."

Miroku wanted to pull his hand away. He really, really did. Everytime he told himself that, it became less and less of the truth. "What did it tell you, Kagome?"

"Come to me, my child. Let me hold you. Let me rip you to pieces. Let me drink your blood, and eat your flesh. When we are done, I will draw you a bath from your own blood, and hold your head under while I bath you." Kagome said so solemnly that Miroku felt something deep within him stir. It wasn't anger, no, he had long since come to recognize _that_ whenever he felt it, nor was it the need to protect that he got whenever he was anywhere near Kagome. No, it felt suspiciously…

…like _fear._

"Kagome…" Miroku whispered.

"Do you know who said it to me, Miroku? Do you know who would want to do something so cruel?" Kagome asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes." Miroku said as he allowed his hand to slip away from hers.

"I'm not afraid, you know." Kagome's voice sounded so suddenly assured that he was sure that she wasn't.

"What is it you aren't afraid of?" Miroku asked, surpressing the strange need to chuckle.

"I'm not afraid to die." Kagome said, her voice betraying her this time.

Miroku shook his head as he leaned back against the wall behind him. "And why is that, Kagome?"

Kagome shrugged, wrapping her thin robes tighter around her. "Why should I be afraid of what I don't know? Everything else dies… it's just a matter of _time_." Kagoem glared at him softly, as if challenging him. "You aren't afraid, are you?"

Miroku nodded twice. "Yes, Kagome. I am very afraid. I am afraid eveyr day that this might be the day that I die, and every night I am afriad that the wind tunnel may finally collapse while I am asleep. Then, not only would I die, but so would everyone else near me."

Kagome let out a deep breath of relief. "I'm so glad, Miroku."

Miroku turned his head slowly towards her. "Why is that, Kagome?"

"I thought that I was all alone."

Both stared at each other for some time as the dragon swam back and forth in the water below.

Kagome was the first to acknowledge it. "Why is it you think it won't eat us?" Kagome asked.

"I have a vague idea. Gods and goddesses aren't allowed to eat monks or mikos… we were born to serve them, and the are indebted to us. As part of that creed, monks and mikos are protected by the gods. So, if she were to eat us, she would most likely die."

Kagome nodded, trying to keep up. "Okay, so why would the villagers try to kill her? That doesn't make any sense."

Miroku nodded. "Yes it does. She is a _dragon_ goddess."

Kagome cocked her head to one side, still not getting the point.

Miroku sighed. "If you plant the tooth of a dragon in a field, it will grow in to an undead warrior. Everything the warrior kills will in turn become another warrior. Every warrior that is struck down will turn back in to a tooth, and it can be planted again. It is a vicious cycle that can only be stopped by a god or goddess."

Realization hit Kagome. "They could rule the world!"

Miroku nodded. "What do you want to bet that _Naraku_ put the idea in to their heads?"

Kagome shivered. An undead army. They had to be stopped!

But _how?_

Kagome suddenly took one look at the waters below and made up her mind. "When do you think she last ate?" Kagome asked with a shaking voice and before Miroku could figure out what she meant to do, Kagome threw herself in to the deep waters without so much as catching her breath.

"KAGOME!" Miroku screamed as he jumped after her. He landed not a few seconds after her, and as soon as he found her, he secured his arms around her and kicked off of the ground.

"WHAT IN THE WORLD WERE YOU THINKING, YOU STUPID, STUPID GIRL! THERE IS A DRAGON IN HERE, AND SHE…"

Kagome giggled shakingly as she was lifted in to the air by said dragon. Miroku, who was also being carried, held Kagome tightly against him. "She wouldn't hurt us. You told me that goddesses don't hurt mikos or monks. I trust you."

Miroku turned towards her, suddenly feeling like his world was being shattered. _I trust you._ She couldn't have shocked him more if she had suddenly sprouted demon horns and punched him in the gut. _I trust you…_ When had someone ever told him that? _I trust you…_ The words wouldn't stop ringing in his head.

"Besides, Miroku, if she is on our side, and the villagers have been keeping her down here, starving her so that when they did manage to through in a holy person, then maybe… maybe we can help her."

Miroku let his head slump down against Kagome's back and he sighed. She really had it all figured out. "I hope you're right, Kagome. I don't want to die." As soon as the words left his lips, he realized how true they were. He didn't want to die. He wanted to grow old and live a long life and have children and…

Kagome must have turned around, because in the next moment, his head was being cradled to her naked chest as she stroked his head softly. "You aren't going to die, Miroku. Not for a long, long time."

Miroku closed his eys and allowed her to stroke his hair lovingly. For right now, he wanted more than anything to believe her.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Inuyasha and Sango stared at each other over the microwave.

"Do you know how to work it?" Sango asked as she eyed the black cube that Kagome called a _microwave_ warily, almost expecting it to ask her what it wanted, much like the newly introduced cell phones did.

"No." Said Inuyasha. " Do you think Kagome does?"

Sango looked angerily flustered. "OF COURSE SHE KNOWS HOW TO USE IT! SHE USED IT YESTERDAY!"

Inuyasha shook his head. "No, _Miroku_ ended up using it yesterday. Kagome just glared at it all day and almost didn't drink the hot chocolate Miroku offered her. Do you know what happened?"

Sango shrugged. "I don't know… yesterday she was yelling at it… something about it should be able to work with metal…"

Inuyasha poked the black box from doom with the end of the scabbard of the tetsuiga. "Do you think it has a spirit in it or something? You know, you talk to it and it cooks your food for you?"

Sango poked it quickly and pulled her hand back as if it was on fire. "You mean… like it's a tiny servant? Is Kagome an improtant Lady in her time period? Does everyon have one in her time period?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I dunno. She lives in a shrine. Her grandfather leads it, so maybe in the future they still regard priestesses as important people in the future."

Sango nodded as she dared to step closer to the microwave. "So…" Sango didn't want to touch it… she still remembered when Shippo had dipped the black cord with metal on the end in to the river while it was running, and suddenly he was down for the count. Kagome had screamed bloody murder before she had began to explain the rules of electronics.

_Number one_ Do not dip anything electroincal in water. You can either end up electricuted or it will break.

Sango didn't want to end up passed out from a tiny black box, so she stared at it with a sort of passive agression from a safe distance. And she made sure her hand was resting on the scabbard of the sword that she never seemed to use at all times.

A girl could never be too safe when dealing with items from the future.

After all, if you could send your _voice_ through time and space, who knew what other things you could do with some of the things Kagome could bring back!

Inuyasha scoffed as he worked up the courage to dart around it. "I don't see what the big deal is about cooking your food in thirty seconds or less. I think it's just fine waiting for water to boil over a fire. And you can use metal!

Sango sighed.

_Rule number Two_ Never put metal in the microwave. Apprently it would explode.

Which did them absolutely no good as all they had were metallic pots and pans that were much too large to fit in to the small box anyways.

"You weren't saying that last night, Inuyasha. You thought that the microwave was a godsend when you got to eat your ramen in two minutes instead of fifteen." Sango pointed out.

Inuyasha scoffed and crossed his arms. "There's a diffrence between now and then." Inuyasha said dramatically.

Sango aighed. She knew that she shouldn't ask, she really shouldn't, but…

"What's the diffrence, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Isn't it obvious? Last night I wasn't the one using it."

"Spoiled little hanyou." Sango uttered uner her breath, but from the way that Inuyasha's face suddenly reddened, she was sure that his extra sensitive dog ears had picked them up.

Damn, sometimes she wished she had that ability.

After all, Miroku could never spy on her bathing again!

"What did you call me?" Inuyasha demanded as he stood. "I don't care that you're a girl… I've seen you hold your own against full blooded demons. It would be a shame if you were to lose to a half breed for the first time!"

Sango glowered at him. She was about to retort with something along the lines of , _If I've beaten so many full blooded demons, one measly half breed that can't decide between a dead girl and a live one should be a walk in the park,_ but Shippo choose that moment to come bounding up to Sango and Inuyasha. "Hey you guys! What are you doing?" Shippo asked as he stood on top of the microwave.

Sango and Inuyasha stopped their argument and both forced obviously fake smiles. "Shippo, what are you doing here?" Sango asked as she pulled him off of the microwave with an ungodly amount of restraint on her anger.

Shippo shrugged. "Oh, the villagers wouldn't let me take a bath with Kagome, so I came to see how you guys are doing." Shippo looked both ways before he continued. "Kagome told me that I should teach you guys how to use the microwave… She didn't think you guys could figure it out…" Shippo said in a hushed whisper.

Inuyasha immediately took on an air of offense. "Sango may have been able to control her anger, but the hanyou wasn't as good at controling his emotions. "Of course we know how to work the microwave! If Kagome can do it, than we can too!" Inuyasha said, picking Shippo up by the tail. "And you go and tell Kagome that."

Shippo nodded, tears welling up in his eyes. "Okay… just don't hurt me!" And with that, Inuyasha released him, and Shippo took off back towards the village.

Sango suddenly began to laugh.

"what's so funny?" Inuyasha asked as he sat in his ever faithful pouting position.

Sango shrugged. "Microwaves seem to bring out the worst in people!"

She sat down next to Inuyasha. They both stared at it for some time, half expecting it to pop open and tell them the meaning of life. Eventually, it was Inuyasha who broke the silence.

"Wanna throw it in the river with a piece of metal in it and see what happens?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

It would have been easy for Kagome to think of happier times. It would have been even easier for her to wish she was there. After all, it wasn't everyday you were thrown in to the lair of the lion… or in this case dragon… and survived. It was even rarer when it was the lion… er… dragon who saved you. But that was exactly what had happened.

The dragon had appeared to be a veriable god- bursting from the ground and spewing rock and dirt around her like a geiser as she unfurled her wings for the first time in what must have been eons to her. The villagers, of course, had thrown pitchforks at them… a mere annonyance to the dragon, who flapped her powerful wings of flesh twice and knocked them harmlessly away before they could get anywhere near her or her riders. Kagome had wondered mildly why in the world Inuyasha hadn't come running… (Kagome would later find out… much, much later, that he and Sango had been busy a few miles away, hovering on a wary Kirere above a lake and preparing to drop the microwave in to it). But for some reason that seemed to escape her grasp, she was _having the time of her life!_

But Miroku, who was flying on the dragin besides her, would have probably disagreed with her joy at such a high altitude. But that was just what Kagome would have guessed from the green in his cheeks.

"You okay, Miroku?" Kagome asked, rubbing his back twice.

When Miroku glared up at her, she giggled. "What's wrong? You ride Hachi and Kirere all the time!" Kagome pointed out.

Miroku glowered. He simply glowered. "Kagome, there is a diffrence in Hachi and Kirere and this _dragon_."

Kagome shook her head as she looked at the ground that must have been miles beneath their feet. She had never been up so high before! It was amazing!

And very, very cold. Kagome crossed her arms over her still naked chest.

"Well, Kagome, Hachi and Kirere are _much_ more comfortable than scales. Hachi and Kirere are much _warmer_ than a cold blooded dragon goddess, and Hachi and Kirere _never fly this high!_

Kagome shrugged. "But isn't that the best part of it? The hieghts? I mean, even in the future, _planes_ can't get this high!

Miroku shook his head. _Maybe she was suffering from lack of oxygen…_ It _was_ rather thin at these heights…

"Where do you think she's going?" Kagome asked. They were over theocean now, and traveling quickly- probably much quicker than Kirere or Hachi and maybe even _Sesshoumaru_ could fly- towards China.

"I think a more pressing question is what is it going to do when it gets there." Miroku pointed out, gripping his stomach. "I wish it would fly a little lower…"

As if she had just been waiting for them to ask, the dragon lowered her altitude. Kagome smiled as it got warmer- much warmer then it had been up in the clouds!

Miroku blinked twice. "Can it understand us?"

Dragon huffed out a breath. _Can_ she _understand you, you stupid monk. You shouldn't call you rescuer an it._

Miroku gave up right then. What was the point in trying to figure it all out? In this time period, where Naraku had first come in to power, anything seemed possible.

"Gomen Nasai, Dragon Megumi-san."

The dragon tilted her head back, just enough so that Kagome could barely see the glint of humor in her eyes. _Now you just sound sarcastic!_ She said- or at least Kagome thought she said, she didn't actually see her mouth move at all- in a humored voice.

"Where are you taking us, Megumi-san?" Kagome asked as she placed both palms flat against the dragons scales. Kagome was shocked to find that Miroku had been wrong- there was warmth there!

_To Kyushu island. I have lived there peacefully with my kind there for many generations. There are many more of my kind there- dragons, that is. I was chosen among them to come to Japan and find a demon named Naraku who has been spreading evil throughout Japan. The evil has spread to our little island. Demons from Japan are coming over and reeking havoc. It was my duty to stop Naraku at his source._

Miroku shuddered. _Naraku's reign had reached so far already?_

Kagome was the first to speak. "We are also after the head of Naraku. He is trying to complete a jewel that can grant him all power."

_You are not of this world… nor is the monk._ The dragon said in a that's-so voice.

Kagome shook her head. "We are not. We have traveled through time to destroy him… In his future…" Kagome gestured to Miroku, who looked as though he really wanted nothing to do with the dragon, not that Kagome could balme him. "… Naraku rules the world."

The dragon shook her head. _Horrible… power hungry demons_… The dragon said. _Humans were bad enough, but with demons already powerful…_ the dragon trailed off.

"What is your name?" Kagome asked after a period of time.

_Ironically, Megumi._

Kagome and Miroku stiffled a chuckle.

_Not very orignal of my parents, ni?_

"Not so much." Miroku said with a trace of humor in his voice.

_How do you plan on destroying Naraku, young girl? If he is as powerful as you say, you must have some plan._

Kagome blinked.

_A vague idea?_

Kagome blinked twice.

_Do you even know what his weak point is?_

Kagome blinked three times. "He seems to be a necrophyliac." Kagome said with a nod. Miroku shuddered at the thought of rutting with a dead body.

_Digusting, but not useful. Do you know anything about his past?_

"That I know." Kagome said. "Fifty years ago, Naraku wasn't Naraku, but a young human theif named Onigumo. He was badly injured and a priestess named Kikyo cared for him. He fell in love with ner, but it was a sick, twisted sort of love. Kikyo was in love with Inuyasha, a half demon, and… well, Onigumo longed for her to want him. So he let the demons around him consume him and he became Naraku. Many monks and priestesses have tried to exterminate him, but the only one to ever get close was Miroku's grandfather." Kagome shot a wayward look at Miroku, suddenly realizing something. "If you're from the future, when were you cursed?"

Miroku looked away. "I am not the first in my family to be sent back in time. I did not lie to you when I told you how my grandfather received the curse… It appeared on my father not long after we received notice that my grandfather had… disappeared."

_Disappeared?_ Megumi questioned.

Kagome nodded. "Miroku, should I tell her-"

"My family has the curse of the hell-hole. After a certain number of years, it consumes us. We vanish in to a black hole of sorts."

Kagome was silent for a moment. _How long had Miroku known that he had to leave his family? How must it have felt to be to that you would die when you were very young? Was he feared in his time?_ It wasn't hard to imagine any of it.

"Kagome?" Miroku asked, touching her shoulder gently. "What's wrong?"

Kagome turned her head to his and forced a smile. "I could ask you the same thing! You haven't tried one dirty underhanded trick since…" _How long had it been?_ Kagome couldn't even remember the last time he groped her!

Miroku and Megumi both had their heads inclined, as if waiting for her to continue. "… And I've practically been naked this whole time!" Kagome finished, crossing her arms tighter in front of her chest.

Miroku grinned lechrously. "Is that an invitation, my dear Kagome-sama? Because if it was my touch you were longing for, you had only but to ask...""

Kagome didn't hesitate in balling her fist and dropping it- none to gently- on his upper thigh.

Miroku with held a scream and a tear… he didn't need to be told twice what her silent warning had been.

Below, Megumi rolled her eyes. _We are nearly there. _Megumi said as she gestured to a small patch of land admisted the field of blue. Kagome strained her eyes to see it. "It's so tiny… it looks like a grain of rice among the ocean!"

Megumi snorted, an offended snort that had smoke swirling out of her nostrils. _That island, my girl, has housed more dragons than the rest of the world combined for countless centuries! It has survived every natrual diaster and has grown only stronger as the years go by._ Megumi's voice slowed to that of one of reverence. _The island itself is said to be made of the bones of the greatest dragone that ever lived- his name was Aang and he was the translator for humans and dragons. He first taught the dragons to speak in human tongue through our minds. He was a great leader, and he was the strongest of all of us_.

They were closer to the island now, and Kagome could see just how wrong she was about the size… it made Tokyo seem tiny! "It seems so much larger now…"

_The blue of the ocean… it makes it seem as if the island is tiny, and it is in comparison._ Megumi said as she began to drift lower to the water. Kagome could feel the warmth of the ocean water.

"That is supposed to be the bones of a dragon? It's so big!" Kagome said in awe.

Miroku chuckled as he shook his head. "Kagome, didn't you see Inutaishio? He should be a prefect example of how demons with hold their power. They can't hold it in death, and they revert to the size that they would have functioned most easily at."

"But… Inutaishio was no where near this big!" Kagome said. The island was shaped like a moon turned on it's side… or a very large rib that had managed to support plant life.

Megumi dipped the end of one wing in to the water. _Take a deep breath… I want to show you two something…_

Kagome and Miroku didn't question the command… the simply obliged. No sooner than Kagome had felt her mouth shut, trapping the air inside, Megumi dove under the water.

Immediately Kagome's body longed to lurch back to the surface… they were descending to fast! Everything she knew about deepsea diving flashed through her head- the longest someone could hold their breath, how every few feet you were supposed to level off… she couldn't breath… and she wouldn't be able to swim to the surface in time for her to catch a new breath if she didn't kick off soon!

Miroku must have felt her tense, and sensed her intentions, because in the next moment, his arms were wrapped tightly around her and he had her pinned motionless between his body and Megumi's rough scales.

Kagome knew her air supply was running short- her lungs demanded her to take a breath. Kagome feared momentarily that she would open her mouth, but in the next instant, she was rocketing skywards at speeds she didn't know possible before breaking through the surface in a deep chamber.

Kagme gasped for breath and Miroku feel limply besides her, coughing. "Megumi-sama… try to swim a bit slower next time." Miroku said in between gasping for oxygen.

_Slower?_ Megumi questioned in a voice that indicated she had no idea what the word meant.

Kagome caught her breath first- probably because she wasn't the one to hold both of their bodies close enough to the dragon that they wouldn't fall off (on that note, she sent Miroku a happy smile of thanks), so she was the one to notice the details of the cavern they had entered.

On first glance, it appeared to be a rather normal cavern, the rock run smooth from the steady beat of the ocean waves. But on closer inspection, and with the knowledge that no rock could be _that_ smooth, Kagome realized that they weren't surrounded by rocks… they were inside the skull of a dragon!

"Oh my god…" Kagome mummered breathlessly, forgetting to cover herself up in her awe. _They were inside a dragon!_

"This is the head of Aang… we are well beneath the island, and it is possible to get here from the island… even for you. You could swim the short distances to where there are many smaller cavaties of air… it is just so much faster for you two to travel on me directly."

Kagome turned around at the voice. It was thick and heavily accented, but much more husky than Megumi's. But upon turning around, Kagome only saw Miroku and a beautiful woman adorned in heavy purple robes.

"Megumi-sama?" Kagome questioned.

The woman nodded. "It is only in this room where I can obtain my humaniod form… at least, without my robes…" Megumi said, a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Your robes?" Miroku and Kagome echoed.

Megumi nodded. "The villagers stole it from me before they locked me in that hot spring. I am nearly powerless without it… a normal dragon. And, as you both know, that spring was made specifically for mikos and monks… no demon or normal human could enter… or exit."

"But if that's true, Megumi-sama, then how were you able to get out with us on you?" Miroku asked.

Kagome blinked. _That's right!_ How in the world _had_ she managed to break out? Kagome eyed Megumi suspiciously and unconciously took a step towards Miroku.

"A legitemate question, monk. While I wasn't allowed out in my weakened form, I drew off your powers to allow me to break the seal. Soon, the spring will cease to be. They do not deserve such a gift."

"What happened to your robes?" Kagome asked, staying close to Miroku. She didn't like that place… she didn't know what powers were lurking- and she could definitely feel some sort of power.

"The villagers stole it… but prehaps I should start at the beginning. Now, you two already know that I had been sent to destroy Naraku. Well, I had stopped in this village… I was very tired, you see. I had to travel in my humaniod form to not raise any eyebrows. Well, I stopped in this village for the night and when I realized that they had a holy spring, I realized that they had gained the trust of gods before me, so I gave them mine. I revealed my secrets and removed the robes… they drain a lot of energy from me, you know."

Kagome nodded. "Well, go on."

"They asked me to stay for more than one night- and I readily accepted. I was tired… I had traveled for weeks. I stayed a few nights, and on the fourth night, the night before my departure, they asked if I would like to bathe in the springs. I agreed, and realized too late that they had sent out word that the dragons were seeking to destroy Naraku. I didn't know, but they were already under Naraku's control… greedy and trecherous."

"Do you know where they put your robes?" Miroku asked.

Megumi shrugged. "Probablky the same place they put yours."

Kagome suddenly began to feel more self concious and covered her chest once more. "Do you have any clothing? I feel… well, naked."

"Of course, if you don't, I'm sure we can manage until we can find our own clothes!" Miroku said with a cocky grin that made his eyes squint.

Megumi smiled and stripped out of the top layer of her kimono. Kagome donned the heavy fabric, warm and safe from the prying eyes of the leachrous monk once more. She did a little victory dance in her head. Kagome- 1. Dirty Leach- well… let's just go with 30. Kagome stopped counting around there all of the times he had groped her.

"Would you like one as well, monk?" Megumi asked, stripping out of yet _another_ layer of clothing.

Miroku accepted it with a sigh and a mummer about how cruel life was before donning it as well.

"How many layers are you wearing?" Kagome couldn't help but ask.

"Well, now 11." Megumi said "But it won't matter in a moment… we have to travel back to the surface."

Kagome gave the murky water a few feet away from her a dirty look. Kagome- 0. Nature- … Kagome decided to not count anything before right now and make the score 0-1, nature's favor.

At the look, Megumi laughed. "No, we aren't traveling that way again… we are going to travel up the spine. We are closer to the meeting hall where most of the dragons live right now anyways and frankly, this experience with those horrid humans has taught me to not take anyone at face level ever again."

Kagome felt only a twinge of insult before Miroku grabbed her hand and dragged her towards Megumi, who was already walking towards the hollow of the spine. "C'mon." Miroku said as he pulled her along.

Kagome looked at his hand in shock. _Had he ever held her hand before? Had he ever tried to have_ any _contact with anybody when it wasn't related to fighting or something preverted?_ Kagome was surprised when the answer to both questions didn't immmediately come up as a yes. Miroku hated physical contact! And not only that, but he was gripping her hand with his cursed one.

Miroku suddenly stopped in his tracks. Kagome tried to avert her gaze from his hand gripping hers, but she…

… she didn't want to.

Miroku's gaze didn't go directly to hers. It went instead to where his hell-hole was pulling at her… trying to drag her in to it, only to be denied by the power of his beads. She was mere centimeters form death and…

_… she wasn't removing her hand from his._

Instead, she recovered and switched the position of her hand so that _hers_ now held _his_, and before he had the opportunity to argue, she began to tug him towards Megumi. "We don't want to lose sight of her!" Kagome said as she dragged him along.

In the next moment, Megumi changed back in to a dragon and suntered on like nothing had happened. Kagome nearly facefaulted. " . . . Never mind. I don't think it's possible to lose sight of her now. . ."

But Miroku wasn't paying attention. He was simply staring at the spot where her hand touched his… and he realized with a quick grin that she had not only touched him in the one place he allowed no one near not once, but twice. But what shocked him more, thought he didn't know why…

_…He liked it._

He liked the fact that someone wasn't afraid to touch him. His allies had always feared him. All they had to do was say one word to annoy him and puff! They were gone. Even his mother had feared him, avioding him at nearly all times and wary around him when she was near him.

He had grown accustomed to being alone.

Kagome stopped and looked at him. _Had he spoken aloud again?_ He really had to be more careful about that!

"Miroku…" Kagome didn't know what came over her… just that all of a sudden, more than anything else, she wanted to hug Miroku. He had said nothing, but from the look on his face he had _thought_ something.

_Are you two coming or not? I don't want you two to lose sight of me!_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven **

Kagome hadn't known what to expect when she entered the cave of the dragons. She had seen many dragons as they had walked, swam, and at one point teleported (Kagome had asked Miroku how the light thing that had teleported worked, but she zoned out after hearing a bunch of new future words that she had _no_ idea what they meant), but none of them were nearly as large as Megumi… and none of _their_ names were nearly as ironic as hers!

Kagome had pointed this out once, the whole name thing, and Megumi simply tilted her head and done the one thing that had always bugged Kagomewhen she was growing up. The one theing all of the students in every class she had ever had had done to her. The one thing that made her skin crawl and the one thing that made her slightly homocidal.

_Kagome Kagome Kago no naku notori wa Itsu Itsu deyaru yoake tobani suru to kami ga subetta ushiro no shomen dare?_ She sang in a happy tune. Soon, tiny firelizards as Megumi called them (though to Kagome they simply looked like oversized aligator lizard with wings) began to sing along. _Kagome Kagome Kago no naku notori wa Itsu Itsu deyaru yoake tobani suru to kami ga subetta ushiro no shomen dare? _The song had echoed through the halls and continued long after the choir of dragons had ceased.

Miroku had merely shrugged. "At least your name comes from a childs song… better than some names!" He had defended, shooting a wicked glance in Megumi's direction. Megumi had sauntered off a a faster pace after that and had refused to look at either one of them. But that was okay with Kagome. She didn't really want to talk to her either.

So now, here was Kagome, wishing very much that she knew proper etiquette for when confronting a room full of virtual demi-gods… if not _real_ gods.

Miroku must have sensed her apprehension, because in the next moment, his left hand cradled hers gently. "It'll be alright." He assured her quietly before stepping in front of her- acting like a human shield to hide her from the prying eyes f the dragons.

"Miroku… do you know anything about how to behave before gods?" Kagome asked softly, so softly his ears very nearly missed the words.

Hopefully, she would take his silence as a sign that he _had_ missed them.

_Who are these mortals you bring to the sacred chambers, Megumi?_ The largest of the dragons asked as he walked towards them. Later, Kagome would think of a better word for it. Maybe she would invent a new one. For _walking_ did this dragon no justice. With each step it took, and it must have taken pretty soft steps as it was, the ground beneath her feet quaked and threaten to topple her over.

_No wonder dragon's grew wings… it was so the most powerful of them wouldn't knock them to the ground!_ Kagome thought.

_The miko and the monk saved me from a village in Japan…_ Megumi said, averting her eyes from the much larger dragon. Kagome watched the two of them in awe. Megumi was large- much larger than she had expected one dragon to be- and she had seen the dragon Inuyasha killed!- and she was still much larger than most of the other dragon's in the chamber- only a select few came anywhere near her size, but in comparison to the male, she was merely a child.

"Dragon's grow in size according to power levels. The more powerful a dragon is, the larger it will be." Miroku said in a hushed tone.

Kagome looked up at him, but didn't take her eyes off of the dragon in the center of the room- not that she would have missed it if she turned to completely met Miroku's gaze! "Why is that?" Kagome asked.

Miroku shrugged. "Probably so that it becomes more obvious who the leaders are and who aren't."

_You were captured by mere mortals? How is this possible! You, the second in command of the dragon clan!_ The larger dragon huffed, eyes flashing and nostrils flaring. Kagome shivered and unconciously tried to set up an energy barrier between her and the power source.

Megumi nodded. _I apologize, Kami-sama, but I believed them to be good people. They were blessed with a sacred hot springs and…_

_They trapped you in a sacred hot spring? Why couldn't you get out? And where are your robes!_ Kami (much later Kagome would snicker at the horrible laziness of he proud parents of _this_ dragon) roared.

Megumi didn't raise her voice as Kagome would have suspected. Instead, she knelt on one scaled knee and bowed her head low to the ground. _I have failed the dragon clan. Naraku remains in power and is now influencing whom we considered allies once upon a time._

Kagome must have blacked out. After all, one minute she had been standing there, trying to comprehend the sheer size of the powerful dragon, and then…

… she _wasn't_.

Instead, she was staring at the most outlandishly handsome man she had ever had the chance to see. His hair, black and waved, reached halfway down his back in a leather tie. He wore no signs of royalty, like Sesshoumaru did with his boa thingy, but Kagome knew instantly that this man was of a higher class than she. His posture was erect, and when he turned and meet his eyes with hers, the only though t in her head was that she had never seen such a blue.

"Try not to drool, Kagome- _sama." _Miroku hissed out in a tone that Kagome would have normally missed- if it wasn't for the fact that she heard it whenever Kouga and Inuyasha were in the same room.

Unadultered _hatred. _

Kagome blinked twice. Surely she must have heard him wrong! His eyes didn't shine with contempt, as Inuyasha's often had, and his demenor was as hopelessly boyish as ever. But something had changed. Maybe it was his posture, or simply his energy, but Kagome knew that something had happened that had somehow _effected_ him.

Effected him! Miroku, the lecherous monk who could count the years left on one hand! The man who had been hit over the head a dozen too many times with a giant boomerang made of bone and had on more than one occasion slautered hundreds with no regrets. The cursed monk himself!

Kagome pinched herself once just to be sure that she wasn't dreaming.

Throughly distracted, she didn't notice as the horribly handsome man walked right up to her (again, Kagome _had_ to find a better word for what this walk was…) and when she looked up from studying the spot on er arm that she had pinched (nope, still asleep…) She was staring once more into those eyes.

"You don't look very special… a mere mortal miko." He said as he eyed her, circling her like a vulture. Kagome didn't dar breath- she was afraid to take the scent of him in to her body for fear it would manifest and never leave. "You are the miko whp started this all, aren't you?"

Miroku moved to speak, though what he could possibly have to say elluded Kagome.

"You were the gaurdian of the jewel. You failed in that retrospect. You were one of the most respected mikos on the face of the planet- and then you gave it up for a stupid half-breed. Then, you fail in your love by lacking trust. You failed in your life by sacrificing it, you failed when you could have simply purified the jewel by wishing for it."

_Kami…_ Kagome heard Megumi whisper from somewhere in the distance… but the word didn't register in her mind. Only his cutting insults, and the single thought that wouldn't leave her head. _It's true. Itstrueitstrueitstrueitstrueitstrueitstrue…_ It rang over and over like a mantra.

Kami didn't look over at Megumi. He simply continued without missing a beat. "You failed in protecting it _yet again_ by shattering it, and you fail in gathering the broken pieces. You are a cursed miko, and you only hurt those you come near. You-"

"That's ENOUGH!" Miroku roared from besides Kagome, who was shaking with tears welled up in her eyes. Miroku wasn't sure what had happened. He had been standing besides her, listening to him, all of the insults, all of the truths, every mistake in this life and the last, when something within him… snapped. He hadn't known it was possible, and he would someday look back on that moment as a life changing event. Some chain within him had broken and a more primal beast had roared it's head and demanded it protect the shaking maiden besides him.

Shoving her behind him, where he was sure the dragon-god could do no harm, he pushed one finger in to Kami's chest.

"She is your miko- one of your chosen children! How _dare_ you speak with her that way! She saved Megumi, when I would have simply left her for dead. She raises a kitsune who would die without her, and she deals with a prattling half-demon because if she doesn't, she can't complete someone else's jewel. She's not _Kikyo! _She's _Kagome!_ She should be home, in her own time where it's safe, yet she's here, cleaning up a mess she wouldn't have made in the first place if it wasn't for _Kikyo!_"

Miroku would have continued like that for some time- Kagome was sure of it. What she wasn't sure of was what had happened. Had anyone ever defended her? Physically, yes, but emotionally? No one ever bothered. Why would they? She was Kagome, the emotional wall of China. She could handle anything. ANYTHING! She could even deal with being compared to Kikyo.

But somebody _had_ noticed. Somebody _had_ cared. Kagome looked up at Miroku, and something deep within her bloomed in to a warmth she hadn't felt since the day she held her baby brother for the first time…

Kami curled one lip back in distaste before waving a single hand. "Show them to their chambers. We shall discuss Naraku tomorrow, when we all have a chance to cool our heads a bit." He turned to Megumi. "You are not to be seen at the meetings. You are stripped of all rank until you can retireve your robes."

Megumi didn't argue… she had known the punishment of failure.

And Kagome…

As she was being ushered away from the chamber, away from Megumi, she came to the conclusion that no matter how scared she was, no matter how bad things got, she had at least one ally.

Looking at Miroku, she couldn't help but feel as if she had lost some of the weight that had been on her shoulders.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The ally, in question, was probably the most desicible, dirtiest, lecherous monk that had ever walked the face of the earth. Except for maybe his grandfather, Kagome was sure that there had never been a more lecherous person, let alone a _monk_.

Of course, Miroku had nothing to do with their current predicament. Kagome knew that deep down somewhere in her subconscious. But being only human, Kagome could only deal with so much. And this was the absolute last straw.

Kagome glared at Miroku. "You had something to do with this, didn't you?"

Miroku blinked twice. Had something to do with it? He ony _wished_ he oculd have thought of something so perfect with in such a short time!

But Kagome must have taken his hesitation as a yes.

"You BASTARD! There is _no _way that I am going to _sleep_ in _that_… _thing_ with you!" Kagome said, pointing to the circlar, intimate bed laying so innocently in the middle of the room.

"My dear, sweet Kagome-sama, certainly you aren't insinutaing that I, a perfectly innocent monk who would never, ever…"

Kagome looked like she would die. She was sure that she would too. At the very least, Miroku had knocked years off of her life expectancy.

Miroku smirked. "Kagome-sama, whatever is that look for?"

Kagome glared. "You know what _that_ look is for, you leach!" Taking one look at the bed, she turned on her heel.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

Kaome turned on her toe. "Isn't it obvious? I thought it was. I'm going to find another room. I am _not_, absolutely _not_, goinh to sleep with you in _that!_"

Miroku smirked, and flopped down on to the bed, purposefully beginning to remove his outer kimono. "You do know, my dearest Kagome-sama, we could do something more _physical_ than just sleep. Something more… dare I say _intimate?_"

Kagome's eye tweaked and Miroku was relitively sure that he saw a vien pop under the surface of her skin. It would explain the horrible blushing. "You need to be excummunicated."

Miroku shrugged, lifting his shoulders in emphasis. "Alas, Kagome-sama, I am but a monk. _Excummunication_ is for christians."

Kagome rolled her eyes and gripped the wooden door handle and pulled hard. The outcome? She was thrown back by her own momentum in to Miroku's arms.

"Why Kagome-sama! I had no idea that you were so eager to begin! Now, I want you to know that, as a friend, I will do my best to assure your absolute-"

Kagome turned around and positively _glowered_. "One more word, Miroku- _sama_" She hissed out through bared teeth, "And you won't have to worry about having any children. You wont have to worry about Naraku. Nor Inuyasha, for when he finds out about _this_. I'll kill you _after_ I castrate you."

Miroku smiled and removed his hands from her slowly. "When you put it that way…"

But Kagome was focusing on other thigns right then. "Why couldn't I open the door?" She wondered. Then the confusion on her face turned to blunt anger as she turned to face him. "You didn't lock it, did you, monk?"

Miroku grinned. "Why Kagome-sama! Are you saying that I would dream of locking you and I in a room for one night so hat we could have blissfully, uninterrupted wild sex that only exists in my dreams?"

And there went another vien.

"Good point, Kagome-chan." Miroku said, an got up to check the door. "Well, I didn't lock it, if that's what truly concerns you, Kagome." Miroku studied it for a moment longer, before he froze up, and turned to Kagome. "You don't honestly believe that I would lock you in _anywhere_ for _any_ reason other than your safety, do you?"

Kagome looked a little skeptical, but shock her head just the same. "of course you wouldn't, Miroku-sama."

Miroku smiled reassuringly at her before turning back to the door. He knocked on it, just lightly, before calling out softly. "Hello, we seem to have been locked in! Would you be so kind as to open it? He-lll-oooo!"

"SHUDDUP IN THERE!" Was heard from the other side of the door. Kagome and Miroku both looked at the door as if it had grown another head.

"Umm… Miroku-sama, why did he just…?"

"Excuse me, but we seem to be locked in. Would you be so kind as to let us out?" Miroku asked calmly, with his face frozen in a forced smile.

"Did you hear the monk, Shiguri? He wants to be let out!" Another voice said.

"No, we won't let you out, monk. We know what happened to Megumi-san, and we didn't trust you humans before anyhow." Shiguri, the first voice, informed them.

Kagome felt like she was going to die. "Umm… could you transport us to separate rooms? I don't care if I'm locked in… I can even understand… sort of… but please don't leave me in here! He's a dirty pervert! He'll take advantage of me while I sleep! He'll touch me in inapproperiate places! You can _absolutely_ not leave me in here with him!" Kagome wailed in a voice, getting higher and higher with each word.

The other guard laughed. "But he's a _monk_. Surely you overexaggerate, miko. We shall be back to awaken you in the morning. Don't do anything foolish."

"Shuddup, Tame. They don't need reasoning. They are just humans. Let's go." Shiguri said. There was a sound of soft wind before the loud thumps of a dragon walking.

Kagome stared at the door in shock. "They… just… left me… in here… with a dirty, dirty monk… "

Miroku grinned. "I won't do anything that you wouldn't consent to, Kagome-sama."

Kagome turned to look at him with a look that told him exactly how much she trusted him.

"I promise!" He said with a grin.

Kagome blinked and knocked on the door again. "Please let me out! Please! Please!"

"This is ridiculus." Miroku spoke in to her ear. Kagome let out a screech.

"How did you get over here so queitly! Don't scare me like that!" Kagoem said as she pressed her back against the wall, trying her hardest to fullfill her one mission: _do not touch the dirty, reletively cute monk!_

"Kagome-sama…" Miroku said, dropping his gaze to her lips. "What could I do to earn your trust?"

Kagome sneered. "Me trust you? Please. Your name doesn't belong in the same sentence as trurt. Unless that sentence is 'no one could ever _trust_ Miroku." She said, practically climbing the wall to avoid touching him.

"Are you _afraid_ of me, Kagome-sama?" Miroku said, placing one hand in the small of her back and the other palm flat against the cool wood of the door.

That was what it took to put the fire back in Kagome's eyes. "Miroku, you are as harmless as a kitten. Albeit, a horribly _perverted_ kitten, but harmless none the less."

Miroku pressed his groin against her stomach and shot her a devilish smile that nearly reached his eyes. "Harmless as a kitten, you say?"

Kagome gulped but nodded. "And I will never, _ever_ share a bed with you!"

Miroku smiled and rubbed his hips in in circular motion against her stomach, forcing her shirt to bunch and ride up. "Really, Kagome-sama. Because I happen to know that you _will_ be _begging_ me, on your knees and all, to take you to bed." His lips grazed against her cheek when he said it, causing Miroku to shiver.

Kagome arched under him. Two could play this game. "Oh yeah?"

Miroku took in a deep breath of her hair while sliding his hand that had been at the small of her back to flick the bottom of her bra wire. "Yeah."

Kagome tilted her head up so that her lips touched the underside of his jaw. "I don't think so, Miroku-sama."

"I'll bet you will."

"Okay." Kagome said with a smile.

Miroku blinked twice. "Okay?"

Kagome nodded. "Umm-hmm. If I beg you, then I have to…"

Miroku grinned. "Let me do all the dirty, lecherous things you keep thinking I want to do to you?"

Kagome shuddered slightly but nodded. "And if _you_ beg _me_…"

"You can do what ever you want with me!" Miroku said with a happy grin.

Kagome's eyes lite up. "Alright." She said as she sauntered off to the single bed. She looked at it with a slight glare before lying in it, rolling over in a few positions before settling.

"What's wrong, Miroku? Can't _sleep_ in a bed? I suppose you would be a little out of practice… but hey! You'll have plenty of _that_ for as long as you're waiting around for me!"Kagome said with a smile as she rolled over in the bed to give him a little more room.

Miroku frowned. "Why did you just say alright?"

Kagome shrugged. "I get to do what ever I want to you? Please." At the evil smile on Kagome's face, Miroku was _pretty_ sure she didn't want to do any of the things _he_ was interested in doing.

He frowned and crossed Kagome in a dominatrix suit off of his christmas list. _Dammit Santa!_

Slowly he worked his way in to bed, careful to not face the source of temptation.

"Miroku?" Kagome asked him after a few awkward moments.

"What is it, Kagome?" Miroku said, carefully lacing his voice with drowsiness so that she would feel compeld to let him sleep.

"I have noticed something about you, Miroku." Kagome said, turning in the bed. Miroku knew that if he turned around right now, he would be face to face with her.

Of course he didn't. "What's that?"

Kagome giggled. "Whenever you're going to do something inapproperiate, you use my name with my suffix."

Miroku blinked. _Had he?_ If he had, he hadn't realized it.

"Um hm… you use it before you do something innapproperiate, or soemthing that you weren't suppose to do, or something that you're not supposed to do and…" Kagome tapped a thoughtful fingertip to her lip, "When you lie or are avoiding the truth."

Miroku chuckled. "Kagome… that's _all_ the time."

Kagome smiled and shock her head. "No, not all the time. You aren't doing it right now!"

Miroku blinked. _So he wasn't. _He would have normally abserved something like that… he _never_ left signs of what was going on inside of him. How had _she_, a little miko from the future, managed to see? It was a question he would wonder till the day he died.

"But Kagome-sama, I'm _always_ planning on something perverted." Miroku said as he rolled over, and wsa surprised to see that Kagome was already sitting up in bed.

"Kagome?" Miroku asked, looking around to be sure they were in no danger.

Kagome laughed. "See? Look at you. You were planning on groping me, weren't you?"

Miroku wasn't pleased that she was right.

"And then, when you saw that I was all freaked out about something, you go and get all serious James Bond like on me. Really, it's ridiculus on how easy you are to pin."

Miroku frowned, and Kagome smiled when she saw a crease appear in between his eyebrows. _What was he thinking,_ Kagome wondered _when his face was all worked up like that?_

"Miroku?"

Silence.

Kagome sighed. "Miroku, I'm sorry for pining you. It's just… well… you know, you seem to think that no one notices anything about you."

"Nobody _does_ notice anything about me. I'm still trying to figure out how you figured me out the little that you did."

Kagome shrugged. "I didn't figure out more about you before because we had nothing in common. Sango and I are the only two girls in our little group, Shippo and I have both lost a parent, Inuyasha… well… I'm not all too sure what we have in common, but there must be some thing… well, you and I didn't have anythin gin common."

"We _still_ don't have anything in common." Miroku pointed out.

Kagome shock her head. "We're both from the future." Kagome frowned. "I wish I had my cell phone…"

Miroku smirked and flopped back down in bed. "Kagome, you my dear, are too much for me."

Kagome smiled as she leaned down in the bed. "I'm too much for any of you. Didn't you know that already?"

Yes, Miroku knew it. He knew that when the time came, he would have to b the one to send her home. Him or Inuyasha. She would never be able to stay in the past, and she would never, _ever_ be able to come even farther in the future with him…

Miroku's eyes snapped open. _Her live in the future with him?_ No… wen had he started to think like that? He was fine in his solitude! He was! Besides… what if?

Miroku shook his head. _No what if's_. He looked down, and Kagom ehad already fallen asleep. He knew he would pay dearly for it when he woke up, but he had to hold her to him. She was _life._ She was _light_. However wrong or carnal it was, he had to hold on to it for just a little while longer.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

And pay dearly for it he did. For as soon as Kagome woke up, and she was _not_ a morning person, to find Miroku wrapped around her, well….

Kagome was _not_ a morning person.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Kagome had screamed as soon as she pried his fingers off of her.

Miroku flinched. "I'm sorry… Kagome-sama… I have no control over what my hands do… I was ASLEEP!"

Kagome postively glowered. "Your hand was on my CHEST!"

Miroku shrugged. "I was _asleep, _Kagome-sama, therefore I had no control over what my body did or did not do."

Kagome's eye tweaked. "You . . . called me Kagome- _sama_."

Miroku took a tiny step back and grinned. "oh! You're still on _that_!"

"Still… on … what… Miro- _kun_." Kagome said as she took one tiny step forward, a devilish grin plastered on her face.

Miroku took another step backwards, only to have his back plastered against the door. He knocked lightly on it, hoping for a response. "Uh… dragons… it's morning now, I'm sure… you could open the door any time now!"

Kagome grinned. "No one will save you, Miro- _kun._"

Miroku was starting to grow flustered. He knew what an angry Kagome could do, expecially this early in the morning. "Now Kagome-chan, be reasonable! You aren't sadistic! You wouldn't urt a fly!"

Kagome smiled sickly sweet. "But then, you aren't a fly, are you?"

Miroku was about to open his mouth to scream for help when the door opened behind him, causing him to fall backwards in to the waiting claws of…

…Megumi.

"Megumi-san!" Miroku and Kagome sung out simultaneously in the next moment.

_What's going on? Why did the monk sound as though he was in danger?_ Megumi asked, sniffing around for some clue.

Miroku grinned and scratch at his eyebrow. "Would you believe that _Kagome-sama_ was going to kill me?"

_Not with out good reason._

Miroku sighed. "Why does everyone doubt my innocence?"

"Because you don't have any, you dirty lech!" Kagome wailed, punching him in the back of the head.

_What did he do?_

"I was _asleep!_" Miroku exclaimed when Kagome began.

"Well, I woke up and his _hand_ was on my _chest!_" Kagome screamed.

Miroku rolled his eyes. "I'm telling you, I have no control over my hands when I am asleep!"

Kagome turned on her heel to face him. "What about when you're awake!"

Miroku shrugged. "I usually lak control then too."

Kagome caught Megumi looking around her, almost nervously, and Kagome was sure she saw a bead of sweat trickle down her neck.

"Megumi? What's…"

_I think Naraku has somehow reached Kami. We need to leave this place. I don't think it's safe. Some things are unexplained. Kami would never act as he did last night… locking miko's and monk's up._ Megumi shook her head. _Not just that… the dragons… there weren't very many. When I asked Shiguri about it, he told me that everyone was sent out. But Kami would never send out more than he would keep here…_

Kagome blinked. "There are _more_ dragons?"

Megumi nodded. _We need to leave now!_

Miroku didn't need to be told twice. Not breaking a stride, Miroku lifted Kagome on to Megumi's back and got on after her.

If dragon's could sweat drop, Megumi did it just then. _Do I look like a horse to you?_

Miroku grinned. "I shall with hold my comment. But we need to get out of here, Megumi, and you can take us so much faster than we could walk!"

If Megumi didn't accept this as a good enough reason, she didn't let them know it. She simply spread her wings and prepared to take flight.

This, however, Miroku had some objections too.

"Uh… Megumi, why are we flying? I thought we _swam_ here?" Miroku said, gripping the spines on her back tigthly. "Why are we _flying_ out of here?"

Megumi shot Miroku a _no duh_ look. _We swam in because we didn't want anyone to see where we were entering. It doesn't matter much if someone sees us, because they wouldn't know where we had taken off from. Besides, our island reeks with the scent of a demon. . ._

Kagome gulped audibly. A demon. . . that may very well mean. . .

"Naraku. . ." Miroku was surprised how easily the name slipped from his lips. Kagome was more surprised how much hatred could be put in to one word. Megumi, however, didn't show or say what she felt.

Kagome looked back at the quickly retreating island, and saluted it, praying she would never have to return there again.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten **

Inuyasha scowled as he surveyed the area. It only took one look-over to tell him what had caused so much damage. Only one word: Demon. A very, very big demon.

Bodies lay everywhere, covered in blood and mud and water that seemed to come out of an underground hot spring that was getting dangerously hotter. He had searched for survivors, but had found only one thing: the scent of Naraku.

Sango shivered besides him. "What sort of horrible creature could have. . . " Sango couldn't finish. As if in sudden realization, she whipped her head around, searching through the massive open grave for two familiar faces. "Where are Kagome and Houshi-sama?" Sango asked, not bothering to conceal the fear in her voice.

Inuyasha sniffed around. "I dunno, Sango, but this place reeks of Naraku."

Sango felt her back stiffen, and though she tried to remain stotic, she knew that it had been visible. _Naraku._. . the very name meant death to her. _Naraku. . ._ as if taking Kohaku hadn't been enough, he now came after _Kagome and Miroku! _She knew she was being ridiculus. . . knew that it wasn't an attack on _her_, probably on Inuyasha or Miroku or Kagome, but it felt like it had been made just for her. Made to show her that she could never, ever take back her brother. Made to show her that she could never, ever avenge her deceased relatives who lay buried in shallow, barely marked graves in a village destroyed by Naraku's demons.

"Sango. . ." Inuyasha said, careful to keep his voice even enough that she wouldn't start to cry. He _hated_ it when women cried. . . he couldn't help it. And even the strongest of warriors, he was all too aware tat Sango, beneath her armor made of his half-brethen, was nothing but woman.

He felt his body draw tight. He'd question it later.

Sango shook her head, clearing the thoughts of her best friend and possible love interest being dead. It made no sense! Why attack here? Why now? Why hadn't they sensed anything unholy?

"Sango, I smell Naraku, but it's old. And I don't think a demon did this. . . at least, not the type of demon you and I were thinking about." Inuyasha said, indicatin to a large claw marking in the dibries of stone.

Sango studied it carefully for only a moment. "A dragon? But what would. . . "

"Who cares _what_. . . why was it here? Why would it be so vicious? And why is there no sign of a struggle on Miroku's behalf? Kagome wouldn't have left much of a mess. . . an arrow or head here, a missed target there, but if Miroku were to unleash his weapon. . ."

Sango knew first hand what the wind tunnel could do. Miroku's hell hole would have left the places worse than it was: there would have been no bodies, no buildings, no evidence.

"So. . . what we need to find out is what exactly happened here. . ." Inuyasha said as he turned over a dead man. "And dead men tell no tales. . ."

A moan was heard in the distance and Sango felt a saditic grin spread over her face. "But life ones are more than willing to talk. . . " She cracked her knuckles here, ". . . with the right persuasion."

When speaking with a perverted monk, Kagome realized with a soft sense of enlightenment, you must be sure to keep your voice strict, but not so strict you can sound _anything_ like a domineering school teacher in a tight red mini skirt (she had no idea _why_ he had given her the anology when she had used her best reprimending voice, but none the less. . .), your voice must not be so soft that he moans. (When Kagome asked if he was hurt, he had grinnend and replied that her voice reminded him of long, luxrious sex on a warm summers day), and you must always, _always_ be sure that your meaning will be completely understood before you say anything.

For example, when Kagome asked if her skirt was torn, she should have used the hardened (dare she say, teacher-like?) voice, else he may think that you are asking him to simply stare at his ass. And should she ask if he was hurt, she had better do it in a way that he would _not_ think of soft sand and sex.

But then again, with Miroku, it _always_ seemed to be about the sex.

As if he could read her perfectly, Miroku leaned back and tucked his hands behind his head before speaking. "I wonder what would happen if. . ."

Kagome sent him a sharp look, sure that it would put him in his proper place before he did or said anything even mediocorly innaproperiate. "What would happen if what, Miro- _kun_?" Kagome said, placing a biting tone in her voice to discourage said monk.

"I wonder what you would do if I were to. . ."

Megumi's head jerked up suddenly, then turned back the way they had came. _Kami knows we are gone! I can feel his anger vibrating all the way out here!_

Kagome blinked, throughly distracted. Miroku grinned his sly, now-what-would-make-you-think-that-I've-done-anything-wrong grin. "Well, do you think that he's going to come after us? I mean, it's not lik we did anything _wrong_ or anything. . ."

As if summoned, four tiny fire lizards burst through the louds. Kagome shot a glare at Miroku. "You just _had_ to jinx us, didn't ja?"

Miroku's face grew somber. "Megumi, can you stay afloat in strong winds?"

Megumi nodded. _Yes, but only for a certain amount of time. No more than a few minutes. . ._

Miroku unwrapped his beads and stood, face grim. "I only need a few seconds!"

And all hell was unleashed.

Kagome sheilded her head for the first second, but when the winds didn't pull at her, she lowered her guard slightly and stared.

_That's him._ The words rung in her head as she stared in awe. He wasn't a monk, he wasn't a man from the future. He was her savior, doomed and proud as he stood on the back of a dragon goddess, fighting to save. . .

He sent a single look back at her, and his eyes softened slightly. Sweat was beaded on on his brow, and creases Kagome hadn't noticed before appeared. She had always seen him as a reletively handsome man, but things were different now. She hadn't noticed just how thick his eyelashes were, nor how there were tiny lines around his lips. His hair wasn't jet black, like hers, but a dark brown that tinted a titianian red if he tilted his head a certain way. He wasn't her age, she had known it before, but now she wondered just how old he was.

It struck her deep that she didn't know. That she didn't know much of anything about this doomed man. She didn't know his age, she didn't know his birthday, and she didn't know whether or not he liked chocolate. Was he a dog person? Or was he a cat person? What were his plans? What were his dreams? Did he play sports while growing up? Or was he a scholar?

And then he wrapped his beads up again, and his eyes held his hand for a moment longer than need be. How would it feel, Kagome wondered, to have a mass murdering weapon attached to you? How would it feel to know that one day it would take your life as well?

Kagome must have stared for a moment too long, because when his gae left his hand, it met and held hers. Kagome should have blushed. She should have looked away. She should have let him have his moment. But she just. . .

Miroku had been staring at his wind tunnel, apologizing in his mind for the four lives he had just taken. He often wondered what it must be like, in there. It would be an abyss of wind, of emptiness. A void that could never be filled. A void for countless, unmarked graves. He knew, beyond a shout of a doubt, that it would very likely be his grave someday as well . . .

He wrapped his beads tighter around his arm and looked up- straight in to the eyes of Kagome. _She knew._ He faultered, either not bothering to hide the look of shock on his face or simply too shocked to notice he wore one. But he shook his head and his eyes lightened. _Of ourse she didn't know. . . how could she?_ _She didn't know him at all. . . none of them did!_

But when he sat down next to her, he couldn't help but stop the sneaking suspesion.

"Miroku. . ." Kagome whispered, but then shook her head as if that would clear away the emotions. But her face betrayed her, and Miroku nearly edged away from her. _That look. . ._

"Kagome-sama, you aren't _falling_ for me, are you?" Miroku asked, his voice lacking the usual humor.

Kagome shook her head. "Now what would make you think that?"

Miroku blinked. _What_ would _make him think that?_ _Why_ would _that be what came to mind when he saw that look of caring on her face?_

_Because he wanted her too. . ._

Miroku stared at Kagome as if she grew two heads. Now _that_ thought had come in completely unbidden. He wanted her to love him? He wanted her to fall for him?

"Miroku?" Kagome asked, leaning in a bit as if to study his pupils.

Miroku grinned, all humor back in his face. "Good. I would hate to think you were falling for me, Kagome-sama. What would we tell Inuyasha?" Now _that_ left a bitter taste in his mouth.

Kagome edged away from him, as if sensing that, however accidental, she had just crossed a line that she was not meant to cross.

Miroku would compliment her on how very perceptive she was.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven **

They landed many hours later, in a place that Kagome didn't recognize. "Megumi," She asked, "Where are we? We flew just about the same amount of time as we did when we left the village, but why aren't we anywhere near the village?"

Miroku grinned, and stiffled a laugh behind a hand and a cough. Kagome shot him a glare. "And what," She asked in an even tone, "is so funny, Miro- _kun?_"

Miroku shrugged. "It just struck me that your sense of direction might be, and mind you only _slightly_, non existant."

Kagome balled her fist. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean!"

Megumi gave them a chasitising look, as if they were behaving like children. _It means, Kagome, that we have been traveling the_ opposite _way since we left the island. We can't have them try to find us by tracking where we've been, so we need to find another way to get to Naraku._

"May I point out to you, Megumi-san, that we had no idea where Naraku was in the first place, so as to finding a _new_ way too him isn't possible." Kagome said.

Megumi scoffed. _And here I thought you were the smart one. Naraku had influenced the villagers. Therefore, the villagers would have very likely had information on his where abouts, or information on how to drag him out of hiding._

Miroku grinned. "And I thought you were the smart one. . ." He said in a very Megumi sounding voice.

"At least _I'm_ in the right clothing for my sex. _You're_ dressed like a girl!" Kagome said.

Miroku shrugged and began to pull off the heavy Kimono Megumi had bestowed upon him earlier. "Well, if you would prefer I was dressed in _nothing,_ I would be more than happy to accommodate you, Kagome- _sama_."

Kagome fumed. "Don't. You. Dare. Take. That. Off."

"Why? I would be more than happy if _you_ were to take off your kimono, Kagome." Miroku said as he shrugged the fabric back on.

Megumi looked around them. _It seems relatively safe here. We shall spend the night and continue on in the morning. I shall go and bring us some food._ Megumi said before spreading her wings and taking flight.

Kagome sat down next to Miroku, and took a good look around her for the first time. They had landed on a tall cliff, with mountain behind them and open sky in front. It would be near impossible to climb, so they were safe from any land attacks, and the only sky entrance was from right in front of them, so they were relatively safe from that too. As she watched the sunset, a thought struck her.

"I think I've got you figured out, Miroku." Kagome said as she watched the the sun sink low in the horizon.

"That, Kagome, I sincerely doubt." Miroku said as he leaned back, staring off in to the distance and not seeing much of anything. It was getting darker, and harder to see. Miroku smirked. _That_ was a lot like his life.

"Yeah. You say one think, perverted, cocky, and what you _must_ think is funny, because it's really not, to stop us all from seeing the real you." Kagome said with a smile, leaning her head forward to rest upon her knees.

"And what _is_ the real me, Kagome?" Miroku asked, right next to her ear. Kagome shuddered and turned and _saw._ _Him standing on the dragon, protecting her. Him risking his life to rescue her from the pits of the goddess's chambers, him rescuing her from the demon that had been waiting for her when she had come back from her time._

She smiled. "I have a bit of an inkling idea of who you _really_ are, Miroku." She said.

"Really?" He asked, leaning if it was possible, even closer.

"Really!" Kagome assured him, not backing away. "For example, right now you are hoping to make me want to stop questioning you by making me think that you're going to kiss me. But I'm not going to, you know. I'm going to find out all about you."

Miroku smiled and eyed her lips hungerily. "And what would you do, Kagome- _sama_, if I were to really kiss you right now?"

He didn't give her a chance to answer before he was speaking again. "Would you push me away? Or would you. . ." He paused, and licked his lips. ". . . kiss me back?"

Kagome took a deep breath and reminded herself that this was exactly what he was planning. Throughly distract her from her inquisition. She smiled and got her breathing under control. "Well, Miroku, since you wont kiss me anyways, I guess we'll never know-"

If she was going to say anything else, it was cut short as Miroku's lips played on her gently.

Kagome tried to stifle a moan, but she couldn't help it. His lips moved teasingly lightly on hers, seducing, and never taking. He smield, watching her eyes cloud and glaze, feeling her lips part ever so slightly in the ancient act of surrender. He knew he could plunder, he knew she _wanted_ him too. But he also knew that if he did, it would simply relieve her of _him. _

Miroku pulled away, lips tingling and other parts of his body begging for release. Begging for him to _take her._ She was willing! She was. . .

. . . Leaning in for more.

Kagome froze at the sudden change in his expression, and as if she had just realized what she was doing, she jumped back and stammered. "Well. . . that just proved my theory completely wrong. Maybe I don't know you at all, after all. I mean, I have so many questions, but. . ."

"Ask them." Miroku said, leaning back again.

Kagome blinked once, then twice. "I beg your pardon?"

"Ask them." He repeated. "Ask them all. I'll answer if I don't think it's too. . ."

Kagome waited for him to finish, but he never did.

"What's your favorite color?"

Miroku grinned. "I would have thought _that_ would have been obvious. Purple."

Kagome smiled. _He was actually talking to her!_ "How old _are_ you?"

"Nineteen."

_Nineteen?_ Kagome froze, and almost didn't ask her next question. "When's your birthday?"

"June Ninth."

_Ah. . . so he was a Gemini. . ._ It made perfect sense to her, actually.

"Did you play sports?"

"I was on the karate team at my school."

"Were you any good at school?"

"The best in my percentile."

"Which was?"

"95."

_Wow. Doubly wow. He was better in school than_ she _was?_ _unfair!_ "First kiss?"

"Next door neighbor. We thought we should practice before we started elementary school." He turned to her then. "You're asking me all of these questions, Kagome. Am I allowed to return the favor?"

Kagome nodded.

"Okay, everything you just asked me." Miroku said.

"What?"

"If you want to know anymore about me, you have to tell me the same things."

"Well. . . okay. My favorite color is pink, and so I decorated my whole room in it. . . I'm going to be sixteen next month, the only time I play sports is when I am in P.E., which by the way, I don't think I'll ever use, I used to be in the 90 percentile, but after traveling back and forth through time, I dropped down to the 60; and my first kiss was. . ." Kagome paused here, and turned her head away from his probbing gaze. She answered so quietly, he almost didn't hear her. "you."

Miroku was dumb sturck. _She had never kissed anyone?_ _He had taken her first kiss? Why hadn't she tried to stop him? The first kiss was special! Kisses were special! He himself had only kissed three girls. . . his child hood friend, the girl he lost his virginty to, and. . ._

"Kagome. . . I'm sorry. . . I didn't-" he was spared from any further apologies as Megumi flew down, a deer locked in her claws. And wood on her back.

_I think this should be enough. . . I ate well on the island, so I will be with only a little sustience._

As if just noticing the akward silence of the area, she eyes the two closly. _What's going on? Did I interrupt something?_

Kagome shook her head. "No. Umm. . . I don't have a knife to skin the deer. . . my knife was in the pocket of my uniform. . . along with my flint and tinder."

Megumi held out her claws. _If you guide them, my talons can slice fairly well, just not in very good detail. You might lose some of the meat, but it's better than nothing._

"Yes, but we still don't have any flint or tinder." Kagome said as she lay out the wood.

Megumi rolled her eyes and blew out a breath of fire when she finished. _And I thought you were the smart one. . ._


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

They flew again in the morning, and Kagome desperately wished for one thing. . .

An umbrella.

Sure, she had known that clouds were made of water. . . but that didn't mean they had to be so. . . _wet._

Miroku grinned at her, and Kagome knew without a shout of a doubt that he was entertaining a less than virtous thought.

She knew she should have shot him a glare. But it was _six thirty in the morning_ and she just didn't have the energy to force it when it really didn't bother her that much any more. "What are you grinning about?" She asked, not sure that she wanted to know.

Miroku shook his head. "I was just imagining how your skin must feel this morning. . ."

Kagome nodded and _hmphed._ "Same as it feels every day, my dear monk. Like _skin_."

Miroku laughed. "Good alliteration."

They flew for the rest of the day, not landing once to rest, much to Kagome's boredom, and stopped only in the evening, this time at the mouth of a river. When Megumi informed them that there was a hot springs in the viccinty, Kagome wanted to cry in gratitude.

"Ah. . ." Miroku had said, rubbing his hands together, "then I will assume that Lady Kagome-_sama_ intends to bathe? It's not really safe, seeing as we're being chased by _dragons,_ and mayhap I should accompany. . ."

Miroku was then knocked in the head by a rather large rock that had been lying in just the right position for Kagome to pick it up.

"Pervert." She mumbled before she started off to the hot springs.

_Kagome, perverted though he is, I think the monk is right. You shouldn't go off on your own, especially not at night and unarmed._ Megumi said, laying her tail in Kagome's path. _I think that he_ should _accompany you._

Miroku could have kissed her then.

Kagome stopped in her tracks, appaled. "Hold up. . . you're saying that he should come with me to watch me _bathe!_"

Megumi shrugged. _Hasn't he already seen you naked?_

Kagome _glowered._ "More times than I care to count. . ."

_Then what diffrence does this make? Besides. . . I was under the impression that you two were_ lovers.

Kagome felt her stomach drop out from underneath her. "And what would give you _that_ idea, Megumi-san?"

_I just sort of assumed. . . you two were traveling alone together. . . and before now, you seemed to have no_ real _qualms in your nudity, so I just thought-_

"You thought wrong." Kagome assured her, glaring a Miroku as she sat down. "I would really rather simply _not_ take a bath."

They ate dinner (caught again by Megumi) in relative silence, only talking when necessary.

"Megumi." Miroku began, swallowing a large chunk of meat, "we need to find a village. While these clothes are. . ." he paused here, searching for the right word as he studied the very feminine kimono he was brandishing, ". . . _pretty, _I would find it much easier to fight in. . . men's clothing."

Kagome nodded in agreement. "This kimono is very heavy, even for me. And there are other things we need too. Weapons being at the top of the list."

Megumi sighed. _By going to a village, we risk giving away our location. Is clothes and weapons_ really _worth that?_

Miroku and Kagome simultaneously answered yes.

_I don't see how gathering supplies is worth the risk of being spotted._ Megumi said with a frown.

"Because, Megumi-san, we are constantly at risk of being spotted. I would rather increase that chance and have weapons than to ignore the fact and go in to battle with out." Miroku said, hands moving as he explained.

Kagome wondered if he had takening speech classes in his time.

Megumi frowned, but consented none the less. _Alright, but if we get caught, it's your fault._

Kagome grinned. "Now, Megumi-san, you don't really believe that, do you?"

Megumi didn't answer, and Kagome didn't press.

_They're coming. . ._ hissed a silent entity from the forest as it watched the travel weary companions eat the bland flavor of open fire deer. It hissed again, disgusted by the thought of devouring _meat_.

_How_ dare _they? That deer was a creature of this forest! They presume to steal from us, brother?_ The second entity thought, retching violently in his mind. _They shall die!_ He promised with a glare that dripped with menace.

_Patience, brother. It won't be long now until Naraku gets his hands on them. . . they won't live much longer. . . they shall suffer and we shall be rewarded for their capture._

The second entity, the younger brother, grinned sadistically. _Oh. . . but brother, Naraku doesn't need them_ all _alive, does he?_

The elder brother surveyed them cautiously, before his eyes landed on one of them. _Naraku demanded the girl be taken alive. . . but as for the other two. . ._ The elder brother ran his tongue over his teeth, _I see no reason why Naraku would care if we brought only their_ heads. . .

_Yes. . . bring him their heads. . ._

Kagome awoke cramped and cold and cranky. And she _really_, _really_ needed some coffee. She had a severe case of caffeine withdrawl of the _worst_ kind.

"Kagome, you look a little tired." Miroku noticed, his usual chipper self even though he had just woken up and it was _30 degrees._

Kagome shot him a glower that promised she would be entirely justified if he took one step in the wrong direction. Namely, towards her.

But despite what Miroku claimed, it seemed he didn't speak woman too well. With out fear, he walked right up to her and circled behind.

Kagome turned slowly towards him. "Miroku, if your hand goes where I think your gonna make it go, you won't need to worry about Naraku, or your accursed hand hole. _I'll_ kill you."

"Duly noted, Kagome-chan." Miroku sighed as his fingerd cupped the base of her skull and began to rub.

Kagome froze. _What was he doing?_ A frightened little voice from somewhere inside of her demanded. An older, much more cool and sophisticated sounding, answered. _He's trying to seduce you, you moron. Tell him to get lost!_ Kagome didn't say a word. A third voice, young and lustful sounding, spoke next. _Oh. . . if_ this _is what his seduction feels like, why the hell did we wait so long?_ Kagome pondered on that for a moment, before she shook her head, more to clear it than to get rid of Miroku's miracle hands that seemed to have melted away her insides.

"Kagome-chan, are you alright?" Miroku asked, fingers curling in her hair.

Kagome glared at him. "You can't _do_ that, Miroku!" Kagome said, turning and pressing on efinger in to his chest, which only proved to irritate her more when she discovered she, oddly enough, longed to run her hands over those pecks just to see if they were as finely chiseled as she imagined them to be.

"Do what, Kagome-chan?" He asked, cupping her head with both hands and angling her face to his.

Kagome gulped. _Since when had he been_ this _tall?_ At five foot six, Kagome was used to looking down on other people. But then she had meet Inuyasha, who, at a towering six foot one, had made her feel petite and feminine for the first time in her life. Then came Sesshoumaru, who _really_ made her feel tiny. _Especailly_ when he was trying to kill her.

But Miroku. . . he had never made her feel _particularly_ small before. Kagome mentally tried to figure out how tall he was, when suddenly. . .

"What don't you want me to do, Kagome?" Miroku asked, flexing and relaxing his fingers in her hair. _Like a kitty cat!_ The feminine voice in her head purred. _Soft and sensual and predetorial and. . ._

"Don't call me Kagome-chan." Kagome commanded as she straightened out her kimono, grateful that Megumi had informed them that there was a village twenty fourlongs, which Miroku translated to Kagome as two and a half miles, North of them. She could get s few good hours of R&R before they got back to traveling.

"Why not?" Miroku asked, his wide yawn betraying his perky attitude. He _was_ tired.

_I would love to see him when he wasn't. . ._ the feminine voice in her head informed her, voice dripping with inuendoe.

_Yes, maybe he would_ stop _hitting on us for a change!_

_Oh, but what if he were to_-

Kagome decided she needed help.

Miroku tapped her on the shoulder, and she realized that he had said her name three times.

"What, Miroku?" She asked as she bid Megumi farewell and started North.

"Why do you not want me to call you Kagome-chan?" Miroku asked, annonying her with the simple fact that he could keep up with her despite the fact she was doing her fast walk.

"Because." She answered in a childish voice that was very un-Kagome like. It was much more Shippo's style.

"Because?" Miroku asked, stopping in front of her to prevent her from continuing on.

"Because, Miroku." Kagome worded her next words carefully. "It's complicated."

Miroku shrugged and kept walking, this time behind her. Kagome had a good feeling that it was so he could stare at her ass, but she didn't bother to tell him to go away.

"Then make it complicated, Kagome. C'mon, complicate it." Miroku said, longing to reach forward, just a little bit, and place his hands on her hips and pull them to his. Her head would be just under his chin and his erection would rub against her butt, letting her know with no words that it was already _very_ complicated.

"I'm not a little girl, Miroku." Kagome said with a frown a few minutes later.

Miroku stared at her backside with interest. "You most certainly are not." He agreed solemnly.

Kagome glowered, stopped, and placed her fist on her hips in the universal sign for female anger. Raising one fist beneath his chin, she pointed one finger up at him. "I don't appreciate the way you said that, Miroku, and I am not a little girl, so don't address me as one!" She continued to walk.

Miroku grinned and caught her easily, grabbing her over her arms and turning to press her in to a tree. Lifting her arms above her head, Miroku tilted his own head down so that it lay passively against her forehead. But that was the only passive part of him. His hips pressed hers, pinning her helpless between hard oak and harder man. His grin stayed on his face as he rocked his hips against hers, imatating what he could do, what he would do to her if they didn't have a stitch of clothing on. "Kagome. . . I never, _ever_ have thought of you as a child. . ." Miroku pressed against her harder, and, despite her resolve not to, Kagome's breathing quickened when his chest touched hers. ". . . but you need to know that I. . ." Miroku paused here, searhing fo rthe right word. ". . . care for you. A lot. A lot a lot. Probably more than I have ever cared for anyone else." Miroku pressed his lips to her forehead.

Kagome arched beneath him. "Huh. . . that's weird. I care a lot a lot for you too."

Miroku's hips stopped moving, but the pressure and erection remained. "You aren't falling for me, are you?"

Kagome looked away, not answering.

Miroku grinned and exerted even more pressure against her, causing her head to snap back up to his, narrowly missing his chin.

"You know, Kagome, to me, there are three stages in a relationship." Miroku waited to see if she would say anything, but at her silence he continued. "First, you like somebody. Then you care for them. A lot a lot. Then you. . ." Miroku pressed his lips against her forehead, cheek, and lower lip. ". . . love them."

Kagome felt her lips part of their own accord, the bodies way of submissing, inviting, but if Miroku knew that she had done it, he didn't take advantage. But he did take a tiny bite of that lower lip, pulling it in to his mouth as if it were something to be savored, like a fine wine or a good movie with friends.

"I've liked you since I meet you. No, before that. I liked you when I saw you washing Shippo's hair in the hot springs." Miroku told her as he worked his way down her chin to her neck, then collar bone.

It surprised Kagome that she proccessed his words as fast as she did. "Saw me bathing him?" She asked, not completely sure of what he meant in her mind fogged by lust.

Miroku um-hmmed. "Yeah. I thought you were an angel. . . how odd that you were caring for a demon child. . ." Miroku held her hands with one of his as the other allowed itself free reign of her body. "What to my surprise when I saw you the next day, riding on a bike that wouldn't exist for centuries."

Kagome mewled when his cursed hand found her right breast. "Miroku. . ." Kagome moaned.

"I began to care about you almost immediately after that. Cute. . ." He kissed her collar bone. ". . . funny. . ." he kissed the hem of her kimono. ". . . smart. . ." His teeth scrapped over it, preparing to drag it down.

Kagome shook her head slowly. "No. . ." she murmmered.

Miroku's head shot up to hers, desperate for her to take the word back. Desperate for her to see his desperation, his need to show her all the things she hadn't yet seen.

"No. . . I'm not smart." Kagome whispered, shoulders shaking as she tried in vain to not cry.

Miroku's mind fled from seduction in that moment. He released her hands and cupped her face with both of his hands, thumbs brushing away any tears that they came in contact with. "Kagome, who would convince you that you aren't smart, hmm? 'Cuz the way I see it is that you are _very_ smart. Who would tell you you aren't?"

Kagome sniffled. "Inuyasha."

Miroku stiffened. _Inuyasha. . ._ would he _always_ be between Kagome and him? Miroku entertained the thought that someday he might hate _Inuyasha_ more, much more, than he did Naraku.

"Kagome. . . Inuyasha is a neanderthal. He never went to school. He never took any tests, and Kagome-chan," Miroku said, stroking her lower lips sinfully, "Inuyasha was never, ever in the ninteth percentile."

Kagome smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Miroku." She said as she pulled away from him.

They walked in silence to the village, and spent the better part of the day conning people out of their wares by performing exorcisms.

They arrived back at camp shortly after night fall. Kagome was relieved to not have to wear the heavy fabric. Instead, she wore a yukata that skimmed her ankles, over laying a warriors costume much like Sango's. She would have preferred a miko's garb, but nobody seemed to have one, so she took what she could.

But she was no where near as relieved as Miroku, who seemed to have come to the conclusion that now that he was back in men's clothing, he could now fully devote himself to the task of seducing Kagome. Kagome, however, felt more empowered by her warriors garb and was trying with some success to ignore his constant sexual banter.

"Megumi-san, we are back!" Kagome said as she unwrapped the wrap-around bag filled with herbs, a gift from one of the houses she and Miroku had "exorcised."

When there was no answer, Kagome turned to Miroku, who was staring pointedly at the ground. "Miroku, where is Megumi-san? You don't think she would just leave us, do-"

"Kagome. . . get behind me." Miroku demanded as he put his hands on his beads, ready to tear them off at a moments notice.

It was then that Kagome looekd to the ground. _Paint?_ She wondered as she stared at the red trail, until realization hit her. _Not paint. . . blood. . . buckets and buckets of blood. . ._ Her gaze quickly followed the trail, all the way to the opposite end of the clearing, where some trees had been crashed in.

"Megumi!" Kagome screamed as she took off at a dead run.

"Kagome! No! Get back!" Miroku yelled as he took off after her. But Kagome couldn't hear him. She couldn't hear anything over the sound of her heart beating wildly in her chest, and the words running through her head over and over again like a mantra. _Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead Pleasedontbedeadpleasedontbedea!_

Kagome crashed through the thick foliage and chraged on through a blood soaked path. Trees were knocked down everywhere, bushes crushed, and the imprint of a body the siz and shape of a dragons. Kagome ran and ran and ran, and just when she thought that her legs couldn't move any longer. . .

Kagome entered another clearing and froze in shock. _No. . ._

For there, lying with her wings pining her to the ground, lay Megumi, skinned and beheaded, never to fly again.

Kagome heard some one scream. It wasn't until much later that she realized it was her own.

_One by one, the spiders we killed. . ._

_Younger brother, we shouldn't say that poem. . . Naraku is of the spider demon. . . we wouldn't want to offend our sponser, now, would we?_

_What song should we sing to celebrate, brother?_

_I am not sure, younger brother. I have never heard what songs the dragon slayers sing once they complete their tasks. . ._

_Do you think that anything special will happen, seeing as we slayed the dragon?_

_You know I don't believe in things like that. . ._

_Of course, brother. . ._


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Kagome vaguely felt someone wrap their arms around her as her world feel apart, as if the act could some how hold her together. As if everything that had built up inside of her wouldn't burst out in the tears se shed if they _just held on to her._ As if they _cared._

Kagome opened her eyes to see _who would dare_ to touch her, and saw Miroku's deep blue robes that he had bought at the village earlier that day, when she had thought her bigest problem was how to obtain new weapons for her figt against Naraku. When se thought that she was at rock bottom. When she thought things could only get better.

How wrong she had been.

"We should have been here." Kagome mumbled in to Miroku's chest. "We should have been here and maybe then-"

"Then what!" Miroku demanded as he shook her, sorrow dripping in his voice. "Then we could have died along with her? What ever Megumi-san had faced was strong enough to bring down a _dragon,_ Kagome, and it could have brought us down with her!" Miroku stared fixatedly at Kagome's throat. "It could have brought _you_ down with her."

Kagome froze so suddenly she could have sworn her tears stopped on her face. _Miroku was worried about her? But. . ._

"But if we were here, Miroku, and not in the village, we wouldn't even be _here._ We would be far away. And she would still be. . ."

"In danger, Kagome. She would still be in danger. And what? Should we be martyrs for her? Should we die with her? _Should we?_ Does this change _anything_ Kagome? We still have to track down Naraku. _We still have to destroy him._ Her death should just further our plight." Miroku said as he tucked her under her arms. "Her death changes nothing."

Kagome turned her head, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw it. The transformation. Beheaded, the slaughtered Dragon carcass faded out, until only the skeleton of the goddess they had seen once was there, skin less and bloodied and beheaded. Kagome whimpered and tried to turn her head, but was enchanted. _How?_ She wondered wordlessly. _Why!_ Was much more what she wanted to know.

"Don't look at her, Kagome. She is not alive anymore." Miroku said as he tucked her head under his arm, throughly blocking her from seeing _anything._

"Why, Miroku? Why would they kill her?" Kagome asked when Miroku sheilded her eyes.

Miroku closed his eyes. _Why did they kill Megumi? She was most certainly not Naraku's biggest problem, and this had to be the work of Naraku. In fact, right now,_ he _was Naraku's greatest foe. Him and Kagome. . . But if they had sent out assassans, attacking them in the village would have been far easier. . ._ Miroku pulled Kagome closer to him under the guise of rubbing her shoulders briskly.

"Why? WHY?" Kagome demanded as she punched Miroku in the chest with all the strength in her little body. Miroku coughed and stared. _She had packed holy energy in to her punch. . . if he had been a demon, it could have_ killed _him._

_Then maybe_ Kagome _was Naraku's greatest foe right now. With one tiny punch that barely packed a whollop, she could kill him. With her little pinky, she could destroy him. Then why would they have killed Megumi instead of Kagome?_

Miroku didn't care to find out.

"Kagome. . . we have to leave this place _now._ Megumi's murders might still be near, and-"

Kagome's eyes leapt to his, and in them he say something he would have never expected- hatred.

"I'll _kill_ them." Kagome said in a low voice covered in ice. "I'll kill them. I'll kill them. I'lkillthemI'llkillthemI'llkillthem!" Kagome wailed as she thrashed against the iron grip that Miroku had on her as he held her to him.

"Kagome! No! We have to leave! Obviously they are formidable, and if they come back. . ." _I may lose you. . ._ Miroku lay his head gently in her hair. " _Please_ Kagome. _Please_ let us go now. _Please._" Miroku said.

Kagome went motionless in his arms. "Miroku. . . you're shaking." She whispered as she stroked his hair. "Miroku. . ."

Miroku shook his head. _I am not shaking. . ._

"Yes you are, Miroku." Kagome lifted his head so that he looked up in to her face. _When had he fallen to his knees before her?_ Miroku wondered as he stared in to her eyes. "I'll leave, Miroku. Let's go."

Miroku didn't wait for her to change her mind. He simply stood and wen't to gather the few things that they had.

After a few minutes, he turned to tell Kagome he was ready to leave, and he saw her standing over Megumi's dead form, blood heavy on her hands and crying.

"Kagome. . ." She jumped when Miroku whispered her name.

"Oh. . . I'm sorry. Are we ready to go?" Kagome asked as she got up off of her knee.

Miroku stood for a few moments, taking in Megumi's death. _It could have been me. . ._ should have been what he thought. Whenever he saw death, whenever he caused death, he knew that the next one could be him. That the one that just died could have _been_ him.

He was used to knowing he was going to die. But the unfamiliar pain from the thought of losing Kagome wasn't.

"We should get back to the village. . . get some horses. . . get the hell out of here. . ." Kagome said as she took two steps forward, then one back.

Miroku watched her stare at Megumi. "Kagome. . ."

"We can't leave her here like this." Kagome said simply. "We can't leave her without a proper burial or something." Kagome turned to Miroku. "We've never left villages we've passed, and we had no connection to the villagers there. We did have a connnection to Megumi. I cared about her. She was our friend."

Miroku nodded. "I know Kagome. I know. But we don't have time to bury her and. . ."

"I know. But . . . do you think she would be opposed to cremeation? We could burn her. . . give her a grave marker and release her ashes on the winds. . . she was a dragon, more at home in the sky than the ground. . . don't you think she would have preferred to be cremated?"

Miroku held Kagome close as she gripped at his robes. Miroku wondered why his heart was beating so irregularly. Like he had to have her near him. How, even in the face of danger, no, maybe _because_ of the danger, he felt like maybe. . .

Maybe he was in _love_ with her. _I need time alone. . ._ Miroku thought as he answered. "I'm not sure, Kagome. But it's all we can do for her, and it's better than nothing." He said as he slowly released her. "I'll go find the necessary items." He said without missing a step.

Kagome nodded and bent near Megumi's remains.

"Megumi-sama. . ." Kagome whispered as she lay her palm flat on the ground. "Megumi-sama. . . what have they done to you?" Kagome felt the tears well up in her eyes. "You were so kind. . . you helped us so much. . . I can't believe you are gone."

Kagome stroked a pebble once, twice, before she continued. "Miroku says it's not my fault that you died. I am sure you would say the same thing. But. . . if it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened."Kagome picked the pebble up and tossed it in the air, then caught it. "I'm not just talking about you dying. I mean the jewel breaking. . . the jewel even coming here. What was I thinking when I shot that arrow? One measley crow demon super charged would have been much better than this. . ." Kagome stared at the pebble, just so that she wouldn't have to stare at Megumi's carcass. "And Miroku. . . I was hurting him before we ever met. . . If it wasn't for me breaking the jewel, Naraku wouldn't even be _alive_ in his time. . . he wouldn't be cursed. . . he wouldn't have to _suffer._ He could have been married to someone, had lots of those kids he always talks about. . ."

Kagome stared at her palm, at all of the lines that covered it. All proof that she existed. All lines that told her story. How she lived, how she died, and everything in between. _Was there such a thing as fate?_ _If so, why was it that it had been Megumi's fate to die out here, alone?_ Kagome shook her head. _No, there was no such thing as fate. People controled their own destinies, and Kagome was no exception._ Kagome stared off after Miroku. _If Miroku was hurt anymore because of her. . ._ she wasn't sure how she could take it.

So quietly, Kagome stood and unrolled a scrap of papyrus that had served as an ancient version of a reciept and plucked some berries from a bush. Using a hair clip, she etched out in red juice her message, and placed the pebble atop it. She stood then, staring off over the darkened horizon. _The dark would aid her this night. . . it would sheild her from spying eyes as she fled._

Kagome touched the ground one last time. "Megumi-san, let him understand _why_ I am doing this. Please let him understand that I. . ." Kagome stopped here. _She what?_ The answer came easily to her. Kagome smiled as she continued. "Please help him to understand that I am in love with him, and I can't stand to have him be hurt."

And with that, Kagome stole away in to the night, hoping that Miroku would still properly mark Megumi's grave when he found her gone.

* * *

Miroku trudged through the woods, confused and angry. Questions ran through his head, and he knew that even after they had put hours between them, he and Kagome would still not find sleep. Och, he hated questions.

_Why would they have killed Megumi? How had killed Megumi?_ The questions were at the top of his mind. But what he really wanted to know was _why the hell was Kagome becoming so important to him?_

Miroku, being a man of considerable mortality, and a man who knew that he was going to die soon, never let himself get attatched to someone. He never allowed it of himself, and he didn't let them allow it either. He flirted dangerously, outrageously, but he never, ever made any promises. He understood women as well as they understood him. He was a dangerous man, not a good man, and his eyes promised danger. Women were, in general, attracted to that. They came to him, like flies would to fly paper, but they wouldn't stay. It was a game to them. _See how close you could get to the fire. . ._ but Miroku never let any of them get burned. That was the most he could say for his behavior.

But with Kagome. . . He wanted to burn her. Oh, how he wanted to leave her burning. He wanted her to want him, to be ruined for other men. He didn't want any other man to touch her _ever._ More importantly, he wanted to someday ask her about Inuyasha and have her answer, _Inuyasha-who?_

Miroku growled ferally. Nothing made sense anymore. He cared about her too much to have her fall for him. He cared about her too much to have her pine for him when he left her. He. . .

. . . loved her.

Miroku fell to his knees, dropping the armload of wood he had managed to gather and stared at the heavens. _Oh, how he loved her. . . and what a cruel time it was for him to fall in love! When he was so close to losing his life, when she could be at even more risk than usual. . ._

He loved her.

Enlightened, Miroku raised off of his knees with a grin. _Oh, Megumi-san, you would be so happy to know it! _ He loved her!

Miroku gathered the wood in his arms again and hurried back to Kagome. _Who cared about the danger? Hell, they seemed to better in danger than out of it! _The danger didn't matter to him. With Kagome, he would find a way. He would kill Naraku, take her to his time, or hers, or they could stay here, it didn't really matter. They would have lots of babies, grow old together, _live a full life._

It occurred to Miroku that he had never wanted one before. Then it occurred to him that he had never been able to picture himself in thirty years, twenty years, hell, he hadn't been able to picture himself in _five_ years. But now he could. He would grow to be an old man, with vhildren and grandchildren and great grandchildren sitting around him, his wife, no, _Kagome,_ holding his hand as they watched the setting sun.

_He would have his future._ Miroku thougt as he grew closer. _He would have it with Kagome!_

"Kagome! Kagome!" He yelled as he neared her. "Kagome, I have to tell you something. I have to tell you-"

When Miroku didn't see her anywhere, he dropped the firewood. "Kagome?"

Frantic, Miroku turned in a full circle. "Kagome!" He screamed before he took off in to the heart of the forest, desperate to find her.

_They must have tooken her! However killed Megumi must have. . ._ Miroku ran blindly, stumbling as he hopped over tree roots and rocks. _If they hurt her. . ._

Miroku searched all night and the next day, but he never found her or any evidence of her. It wasn't until the next night, heartbroken and sick, when he was preparing to burn Megumi before he resumed his quest to destroy Naraku, did he find her note.

It was only two sentances, but with them, Miroku felt his world collapse.

_I have to go. Don't come after me._

Miroku stared in a strange mix of relief and horror at the words. _Where would she go? Why would she go?_

But he knew the asnwers to both questions. _She was going after Naraku. . . she left with out him because she blamed herself for Megumi's death and was afraid he'd die too. . ._ Miroku grinned as he started the fire and watched the remainders of Megumi go up in smoke and ash. _He'd show her that she didn't need to worry about him, and then he was going to love her so throughly she wouldn't be able to see straight, let alone get herself in to trouble._ Miroku quickly preformed the funeral ceramony.

"Megumi. . . I'll come back with Kagome. . . after we kill Naraku. . . and we'll give you a proper grave." Miroku placed grabbed a handful of the cooling ashes and let the wind pick it up as he let it fall. "I promise."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep, monk. . ." Miroku heard a voice that dripped with menace hiss from behind him.

He slowly turned, one hand gripping at his beads as he did so.

"Now brother. . . he very well may come back with his love. . . as spirits." A second voice, much more refined whispered.

Miroku turned and saw two human-like demons clad in battle armor leaning against two trees.

"Can I eat him, brother?" The younger of the two, the one with the cracked voice, asked.

"I would have thought you'd have been full from all the dragon you ate." Miroku's eyes widened. _These were Megumi's murderers. . ._ He gripped his beads harder and felt a bead of sweat roll down his forehead. "Yes. . . you can eat him. . . but save room for the miko. I believe she'll taste wonderful after we sate. . . _other_ pleasures on her. . ."

Miroku could almost hear the chain on his sanitity snap as he removed his beads and unleashed hell, for the first time in his life not caring who was pulled in to the hell hole.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

Sango looked over the scenery with a scrunch of her nose. "Inuyasha. . . are you _sure_ you've got their scent? I mean, even _I'm_ having trouble catching any thing other than rotting meat and smoke, and I know how sensitive your nose is."

Inuyasha twisted midair and glared at Sango, who was riding on Kirere's back with Kagome's bag on her back. He resisted the urge to grin. _She looked so out of place. . . dressed as a warrior, but the look of a school girl from Kagome's time!_

"I can smell them, and unless your nose is better than mine, I suggest you shuddup!" Inuyasha told her with a frown.

Shippo mocked the sound of vomit. "Eek. . . Inuyasha, Sango's right. . . all I can smell is burning meat. . ."

Inuyasha fell down and launched himself skywards again. "It's _dragon's_ flesh, Shippo. And both Kagome and Miroku were there. I can pick up their scents."

"How, Inuyasha? How could you possibly pull that out from this? It smells _horrible,_ even to me!" Sango complained as she urged Kirere to fly neck and neck with Inuyasha.

"I would know their scents anywhere. . ." Inuyasha said, eyes focused in the distance. "Because I _love_ them." Inuyasha paused, fell down again, and jumped in to the air once more. "I love all of you guys. . ."

Sango was sure that if she wasn't so used to flying on Kirere, she would have fallen off right there.

"Wait, wait, wait. . . did I just hear the word _love_ pass your lips? I mean, in a sentence other than, _I would love to kill Naraku?_ Tell me, are you fevered?" Sango asked as she tried to comprehend it.

Inuyasha scoffed. "Despite that comment, I love you too." Inuyasha was silent for a minute, but when he fell and jumped up again, e landed on Kirere's back. "it has to be love. . . I've never felt it before. . . not for anyone, not even Kikyo. . . and most definitely _not_ for Sesshoumaru. It's like. . . we're bound, the six of us. . . I mean, we've been through so much together. . . we've lived together, we've fought together. . . we've grown together. . . you can't you through that and _not_ love your companions. . ."

Shippo jumped on to Inuyasha's shoulder and bite one ear lightly. "Wow. . . Inuyasha _does_ have a heart. . . who would have known?"

Inuyasha grabbed Shippo by the head and pulled his face to his own. "What's that supposed 'ta mean, fox? That I can't care? See, this is why I don't ever talk about anything like this! You guys don't just let me talk with out ruining the moment! And look, Shippo, now the moments gone, so now I gotta kill ya! And just after I told you I cared about you!"

Shippo cried as he struggled to get out of Inuyasha's grip. "I thought you said you loved me!"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Love? Who could love something as annonying as you! Inuyasha asked as he punched him before releasing him to fall on to Kirere.

Sango smiled slightly as she turned her head back to the sky before her. _He was right. . . how could you_ not _love your family?_ And they were her family. . . as much as the one she had been born in to, if not more. _And Inuyasha. . ._ Sango shook her head with a smile. She turned her head slightly so she could see Inuyasha out of the corner of her eye, sulking. _. . . whatever she felt for Inuyasha, whatever the blossoming feeling in her chest was that made her so proud to watch him trying to avoid the subject of love once again. . . whatever it was,_ she thought as she looked forward to the darkening skies before her, _whatever it was, she would face it in time. But for now. . ._

"Whhaa! Sango, Inuyasha hit me!" Shippo said as he gripped on to Sango's red sash.

Inuyasha growled from behind her. "What! You trying to rat on me, fox?"

Sango smiled. "Kirere, let's go faster. We have to find Miroku and Kagome." She said as she pressed her thighs against Kirere's side. _For now, Sango was willing to live in the present for the first time in her life._

Kagome trudged onwards through the thick rain in a state of denial. She wasn't cold, she told herself, and she realized that if she told herself that enough times it was true. She wasn't in pain. . . her muscles _weren't_ screaming out in rebellion.

She had developed a pattern. Walk until she couldn't feel anything, then walk somemore, then pause, take a tiny break, and walk some more before she regained any feeling in her body. She knew that she would be in pain the next day, the day after at the latest, but she could deal with that if she covered enough ground _now._

She had no idea where she was. Looking around, it frightened her that she hadn't been here before. She had traveled nearly all of Japan, either walking or biking, but this place didn't look familiar at all. All she knew was she had to follow the call of the Shikon no tama.

She had begun to feel it's pull nearly immediately after she left Megumi and Miroku, and had followed it, hoping she could take it down with the slayer's katana she wore at her waist and the bow and arrows she wore on her back. They were her weapons, and though she hadn't used a sword before, she had been near one for quite some time. Sh figured she could manage with it if worst came to worst. And if all else failed, she could throw it at somebody.

But that was only in a worst case scenerio.

Kagome stopped and stared at the sky, wondering why life was so. . . contridictory. She lost a dear friend one day, and in that same day she fell in love. She wondered how the best day of her life could also be the worst.

Kagome fell to her knees. _Oh! How she wished for Sango! Sango would know what to do! Sango would tell her_ exactly _what the right path was! Sango would comfort her, without judgement, and help her!_

_Kagome!_

Kagome opened her eyes. _Why, she could almost_ hear _Sango yelling out for her!_

"Kagome!" Sango yelled from the back of Kirere.

"Kagome!" Shippo and Inuyasha echoed a second later.

Kagome blinked and smiled. _Her friends were here. . . her friends did come for her . . ._

"There she is!" Inuyasha said as he jumped off of Kirere's back and landed with a squelch in the mud next to her. "Are you okay, Kagome?"

Kagome nodded, and willed the tears she knew were welling up in her eyes away. "I'm fine." She lied, surprised how easily the lie came from her lips, how real it sounded.

"Kagome!" Shippo screamed as he launched himself off of Kirere's back and in to her arms as Sango and Kirere landed.

"Shippo!" Kagome asnwered with false enthusism, petting his head and comfroting him while she cried inside.

"Kagome. . ." Sango asked, reaching forward in the dim light. "Were you crying?"

Kagome shook her head. "Of course not! Why would I be?"

Sango didn't say anything, she just grabbed Kagome's bag and handed it to her. "We found these at the village. . .it's yours and Miroku's things."

Kagome flinced at the name.

As if just noticing, Inuyasha looked around. "Where is the pervert, anyways?"

Kagome looked down, ashamed and unprepared to tell her tale. "I don't know." She answered honestly. "I would assume he would be looking for me, but I'm not postive."

"Why would he be looking for you, Kagome? Why aren't you with him." Sango asked, a hand on both of Kagome's shoulders.

Kagome looked away. "A lot has happened since we left you two. A lot has changed. I can't travel with any of you any longer. I'm sorry." Kagome said as she turned to leave.

Inuyasha jumped in front of her and blocked her path. "Hold on, _why_ can't you travel with any of us, again?"

Kagome sniffled once and shook her head. "If you travel with me, you'll just end up like Megumi!"

Shippo turned to Kirere. "Do you know who Megumi is?"

Kirere shook her head.

Sango came up and hugged Kagome. "I don't know who Megumi was. . . and I don't know what happened to her. . . and I _really_ don't know what's changed. But one thing hasn't changed. No, one thing _can't_ change." Sango assured her as she tilted her head up to look at her. "We are your friends. We will help you through whatever it is your going through. We've been through bad before, and this can't be _that_ bad. . . we've nearly died!" Sango said.

Kagome looked down. "I wonder. . . if that was my fault too. It was all my fault when _she_ died. . ." Kagome said as she fell to the ground, burying her face in her hands in an effort to stop the tears.

Sango knelt beside her and pulled her close. "Kagome, unless you are the one who drew the blood that slay the person, you did not kill them. It is in no way your fault when someone dies. I am assuming that we are talking about this Megumi person?"

Kagome nodded as she sucked in a breath.

"Kagome. . . did you draw the blood of this woman?" Sango asked simply. Kagome shook her head no. "Then you are, in no way responsible for her death. The person who killed her are responsible for her death."

Inuyasha sniffed the air. "I think I caught wind of the monk behind us. A couple of miles behind us, maybe three or four hours walking."

Sango looked Kagome's body up and down, staring at the torn warrior's garb. "How far have you traveled?"

Kagome smiled. "Far too far. Can you take me to Miroku? I have to apologise to him. . . I have to. . . tell him something very important." Kagome said as she fell forward limply in to Sango's arms.

Inuyasha picked her up and lay her on Kirere's back. "Hold her steady." Inuyasha commanded Sango. "Let's go."

Kagome smiled as she stared at the stars flying past. _Each one a dream. . ._ Her mother would tell her. Kagome smiled and closed her eyes. She could almost see the smile in her motehr's eyes, the glint the would take when she helped them. Her smell. . . an old perfume, the same scent her mother wore before her, the same scent Kagome would one day don.

"Kagome, what is it that you need to tell Miroku?" Sango asked. But it wasn't Sango's voice Kagome heard. It was her mothers.

"I have to tell him I'm sorry. . . and then I have to tell him that I've fallen in love with him." Kagome said with a smile right before she lost conciousness.

Inuyasha nearly fell face down. "Did she just say she's fallen for the _monk! _The dirty lecher from the future? _That_ Miroku? We are talking about the same Miroku, right? I mean, I know it's not a very popular name, but. . ."

Sango simply stared. "Kagome. . . fell in love. . ." She mumbled quietly.

Inuyasha landed behind Shippo, who was sleeping silently next to Kagome. "I can't believe it. . ."

Sango smiled as she straightened Kagome's hair like a mother would. "Believe it. . . Kagome's in love."

Inuyasha shook his head. "But. . . how? With the monk? They were only with each other for a little more than a week!"

Sango shrugged. _That's how long it took_ her _to fall in love._ She thought as she watched Inuyasha try to sort it all out.

Sango sat back, one hand bracing Kagome's legs. "Well, what do you feel about it?"

Inuyasha cracked his knuckles. "If that stupid monk does anything to hurt her, I'll kill him."

Sango smiled. "That's not what I meant and you know it. I mean, are you jealous? You're always flipping out on Kouga."

Inuyasha shook his head. "No. . . I'm not jealous of him. . . _I'm_ not in love with her. . . I just. . . don't want to see her hurt."

Sango leaned in a little bit. "What about Kouga?"

Inuyasha scoffed. "I was beginning to warm up to him when I discovered he had a fiancee."

Sango giggled. "Too bad _he_ didn't know about it!" She said with a smile.

"Yeah. . ." Inuyasha said. "I suppose that means I can't kill the monk now . . . Kagome would sit me through to the other end of the earth for sure." Inuyasha said, flinching at the thought.

Inuyasha fingered the prayer beads before turning to Sango. "What are you going to do. . . when we beat Naraku."

Sango crossed her arms over her legs. "You sound so sure that we will."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Of course we will! Naraku's nothing compared to my power!"

"I think I've heard this one before. . ." Sango siad, twidling a piece of hair.

"So . . . what are you going to do?" Inuyasha asked again.

Sango shrugged. "I dunno. Settle down. . . start a family. . . start a revolution maybe. . . I probably just stay a slayer though."

Inuyasha thought over her statement. _A family. . . that would be nice. A little litter of kids running around his farm. . . it was something Inuyasha didn't think he_ could _imagine. But there he would be, working the fields, teaching his kids every thing about life, coming home at night to a warm house with good food, and a sweet wife who looked an awful lot like Sango._

"Do you think he loves her too?" Sango asked.

"I have no doubt." Inuyasha answered. "I suppose things like that happen all of the time, companions falling in love." Inuyasha said, pointedly looking at the stars.

Sango smiled in to her hands. _She knew he wasn't talking about Miroku and Kagome any more._ "Yeah, it's pretty normal, when you spend so much time with a person. You get to know them better, trust them more."

Inuyasha nodded. "It makes sense." Inuyasha said, scratching one ear.

Sango sighed. "Inuyasha. . . when the jewel search is over. . . I would like it if you would stay with me." At Inuyasha's dumbfounded expression, Sango faultered. " . . . I mean, because I will need help settin gup in a solid residence! May be you could help me build my own house or soemthing! You know, just for a little while."

Inuyasha nodded, calmer. "Yeah. . . then maybe I could build one right next to yours." Inuyasha picked up her hand and smiled down at it. "Then we'll never have to stop being. . . _companions._"

Sango blushed. "I would like that a lot, Inuyasha."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Kagome scanned the country side before her, but could not spot Miroku for all she tried. "Inuyasha. . . are we getting any closer?" Kagome asked, breathing heavily.

Sango shook her head. "Kagome. . . you need to lie back down. . . your fever is just going to get worse if you don't get better, then you'll have to confess your love to Miroku in a raspy voice!" Sango said as she smoothed away Kagome's hair lovingly, as a moher would.

Inuyasha scrunched his nse up in disdain. "I smell him alright. . . and a whole lot of dirt and debris."

Shippo sniffed twice. "Hm. . . it just smells a little stronger than usual. Are you sure there wasn't a mud slide or something?" Shippo asked.

Inuyasha shook his head. "No. . . it smells faintly. . . _really_ faintly, even I can barely pick it up, of Naraku."

Sango didn't look all too surprised. Inuyasha had told her once before, in private, that Miroku's hell hole had smelt softly of Naraku, as if the curse had carried the scent as a dsitinguiser of who had curse him.

"So then you think that Miroku used his hell hole?" Sango asked.

"Probably." Inuyasha said with a shrug. "But Shippo may be right. . . it may just be a mud slide."

Kagome tilted her head to see the ground below her again. She smiled faintly. _No, they were near Miroku. . . after all, Megumi's grave site was a few miles ahead of them._ She thought as she recalled the rough terrain she had dared to venture over. _No wonder so many of her muscles hurt!_

"Inuyasha. . ." Kagome whispered quietly. "Are we going to find him soon?" Kagome asked in a small voice, as if afraid of what his answer might be.

Inuyasha scoffed as he leapt from Kirere's back. "Sooner than you may think, Kagome."

Miroku hissed out a breath as he gripped his arm in agony.

The elder demon grinned. "How do you like these lovely little insects Naraku gave us? Useful, especially when dealing with someone with such a powerful weapon as yours."

Miroku fell to one knee and grinned through the pain. _You would have thought he could have develeoped an_ immunity _to those damn things by now. . ._ he thought as he grimaced.

"Hakkai!" The elder demon said to the younger one.

"Yes, brother?" Hakkai asked, teeth enlongating as he took a single step forward. Miroku shook his head. _These two were simple forest demons. . . they must be possessed by Naraku! They would never attack otherwise! Forest demons are kind and passive by nature!_

The elder brother smirked. "You can't eat his flesh yet, Hakkai. First we have to wait for his other friend's to show. . . and his _woman._"

Hakkai nodded. "The woman! The woman!"

Miroku growled as he forced himself to his feet. _He. . . would NOT. . . die here. . . with Kagome waiting to follow!_ He swore to himself as he lifted his hand in preparation to launch his hell hole once again.

Hakkai smiled. "You don't really think that he possibly hope to suck us in with all of these glorious insects around, do you? Why, it be a suicide mission!"

Miroku grimcaed as he began to unravel his beads.

The elder brother broke his stance and stared in horror. "Hakkai, don't back down! He's bluffing, he has to be!"

Miroku shook his head with a sad smile. "I'm afraid you don't know me well at all. You see, if my friend's really are coming, I wouldn't put them at risk for my sake." _Much like Kagome. . ._ Miroku thought with a scowl. "And one more thing. . ." Miroku said as he ripped off his beads and began to suck in everything around him, poison insects and all.

The brother's screamed as they were pulled in, hissing out promises of vengance in the next life. Swearing he would suffer. Denying that they could die at the hands of a mere _mortal._

Miroku coughed up blood as he fell to the ground in a heap, wrapping his beads arounf his hand with the last bit of his strength.

Miroku shook his head. "They never learn. . . when it really counts, even Naraku's poison insects can't do a thing to harm me. . ." he said, staring at his outstretched right hand, trying to decieper the new and unfamiliar pain inside of it. _It was starnge. . ._ he thought as he examined it. _It normally hurt, but not like this. . ._

Miroku's eyes widened. _No. . ._ He thought as he stared in horror at his covered hand. _He knew the pain . . . he knew_ exactly _what it was too._

_The hell hole was finally fracturing._

Inuyasha cursed. "Damn. . . the smell of the forest is too potent here. There must be some forest demons nearby . . . I can't smell Miroku _anywhere._"

Kagome frowned from Kirere's back and sat up. Sango moved to protest and Kagome lifted a hand. "Inuyasha, how far do you think we would have to search?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I dunno. I lost his scent just a minute ago, but he smelt pretty close right before that. I say he's around here somewhere."

Kagome nodded. "Okay then, let's split up."

Sango stared. "Slipt up? Kagome, you're still sick!"

Kagome shrugged. "I can walk, and I'll be fine. My temperature's down, really. And we _have_ to find Miroku."

Inuyasha nodded. "We will find him a lot faster if we split up, Sango."

Sango looked like she wanted to say more, but sibsided anyways. "Alright. . . but be careful Kagome. Please."

Kagome nodded and jumped off of Kirere. "I will! I promise!" She said as she ran off in to the forest, the direction she had spent the last day and a half running away _from._ _Miroku. . ._ she silently thought, _please be okay._

Inuyasha shook his head as he watched her take off. Sango turned her head towards him. "What?"

Inuyasha looked at Shippo. "Take Kirere and go look over there." Inuyasha said, pointing in the direction they had just come from.

Shippo nodded, feeling important at being charged with a task. "Alright!" He said as he jumped on Kirere's back. "Let's go, Kirere!"

"So," Sango asked, suddenly aware that they were alone. "What's up?"

Inuyasha loked after Kagome. "Miroku's over there."

Sango looked off after Kagome. "What? You can smell him again?"

Inuyasha shook his hand. "Sango, you need to listen to me better. I could smell any of you _anywhere._ I thought we went over this already."

Sango smield after Kagome. "Then why did you send her off alone?"

"So that she could be alone." Inuyasha said as he took a step after Sango. "And so that we could be alone too."

Sango turned around, blush on her face nearly as red as the one on his. "What do you mean, Inuyasha?"

Inuyasha took a gulp and stared, looking pointedly at the ground. "Well, I couldn't stop thinking about when we were talking. . . about companions becoming _more_ than companions. And. . ."

"Yes?" Sango said, feeling a feminine nervousness swell up inside of her.

Inuyasha turned on his heel. "Well, I think that we. . . well, you know!" Inuyasha said rubbing his head. "Damn! Why do Miroku and Kagome make this talking about feelings stuff look so easy?" He demanded. "C'mon, let's just go after them." Inuyasha said as he headed off at a fast walk, even for him.

Sango grinned in to her hand and caught up at an easy jog. "Yeah, let's catch up with them." She said as she grabbed his hand and held it in her's as they stormed off together, one looking mildly annoyed, both blushing like maniacs.

Miroku grimaced as he rolled to his back and stared up at the darkened sky. _Was this what his father felt?_ He wondered, _the night he stood from the dinner table and told us he was going for a "walk." Was this what it felt like to know you were about to be swallowed up by hell itself?_

Miroku closed his eyes and tried to focus on something other than the pain shooting through his arm. _Kagome. . ._ Miroku thought as he muffled a scream of pain with his left hand. _Kagome's hair. . . Kagome's smile. . . Kagome's laughter. . . they were all things he would take with him in to his next life, things he would look back on and pray for something he had never wanted before. . ._

. . . More _time._

"Miroku?" Kagome asked as she stepped in to the clearing he had made when he unleashed his hell hole. "Miroku, are you alright?" She asked, running forward.

"Did you find him?" Miroku heard Sango call out from a ways.

Kagome nodded. "Yes! He's over here!" She screamed in response before she ran to his side, wearing her school girl uniform once again. "Miroku. . . are you alright?" Kagome asked as she reached down and touched her palm to his right hand.

Miroku jumped up as if someone had thrown scalding hot water on him. Glaring at Kagome, he clutched his hand to his chest. "Go away, Kagome! Stay back!"

Kagome took a step back. _Go away? Stay back?_ "Miroku. . . I'm sorry that I ran away. . . I was just so afraid, _so_ afraid,that you would die because of me." Kagome took a step forward and felt her heart shatter a little bit when he took two back. "I know that you're still in danger. . . with me being around. . . but I _couldn't_ stay away. . . I don't care the danger, for either of us, _I can't leave you alone any longer, Miroku."_ She said as she took two steps forward, making it so that was just under his chin. "You see, Miroku, I-"

"I found them!" Shippo said as he burst in to the clearing.

Miroku shook his head as he felt the hell hole pull at him. _No. . ._ he commanded it. _They are too close. You can take me later, but I want my now._

He was surprised when the pain subsided a bit.

"Oh, there you are, monk. We were almost worried about you." Inuyasha said as he stepped in to the clearing, one step ahead of Sango, who still had a smile and a blush on her face.

Miroku plastered on a fake smile and wondered if anyone could tell. "Why would you worry about me?"

Inuyasha scoffed as he took a long sniff of the air around Miroku. "Either you've drunk _way_ too much, or you've been badly poisoned."

Kagome looked down at Miroku's hand, which he was still cradling to his chest. She felt her heart pick up a notch when she saw it was swollen and red.

"Naraku's poison insects. . ." She mummered in fear as she took a quick series of steps forward and grabbed Miroku's hand, twisting it so that the palm was facing her.

Miroku quickly pulled it away. "What are you thinking, Kagome? Do you have a death wish? Do you have any idea how _dangerous_ that was?"

But Kagome didn't hear anything he said. All she could think about was how it looked. . . Swelling, cracks splitting out from beneath his beads. She could think about how it felt. . . the cool winds pulling at her even through the protective layers. _She had just looked death in the face. . . and it seemed that it was on the verge of rearing it's ugly head._

"Miroku. . . your hell hole. . ." Kagome whispered, staring in horror at his hand. "It's. . ."

". . . Going to have to wait!" Inuyasha interrupted her as he drew his sword. "I smell a demon."

"Naraku!" Sango hissed as she grabbed her boomerang bone from Kirere's back.

Shippo whimpered. "It's _him . . ._ he's coming here. . ."

Kagome's eyes flew frantically back to Miroku. "Miroku. . ." She whispered in fear, still staring at his hand.

Miroku clenched his fist tigthly. _So, Naraku's coming to see me die, is he?_ He thought, unclenching his fist. _He will die this time!_ He swore.

" _Kukukuku. . . It would seem it is time for the curse I placed on you generations ago to collect._" Naraku said with a smile from his spot high above the trees.

"Naraku!" Inuyasha wailed, leaping at him in an attack of fury. "I'll kill you!"

Naraku quickly batted him aside. " _But you couldn't. . . not when you swing your lovely sword around like an axe. . ._"

Inuyasha growled at him from his spot on the ground.

" _Now. . ._" Naraku said as he lowered himself to the ground, erecting a barrier as he did so. " _You killed my warriors, and ruined any chances of me having them deliver the miko to me. . . it angers me that she is still alive._" Naraku said as he swiped a long piece of ebony hari from his face. " _Now you can make ammends, though, monk._" Naraku said, pointing a single finger at Miroku. " _Kill her._"


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Miroku blinked twice in astonishment. "What did you just say?" He gritted through his teeth, unbelieving that even Naraku would be so arogant as to think that he could simply tell him to kill the woman he loved.

Naraku's lips curled in to a sick thing that could not be discribed as a smile. " _I said, Kill her. Kill your miko. You'll enjoy it, I promise. I know. . . I've killed a woman who meant more than life to me before. . . I know how good it feels to be rid of such a thing._"

Miroku stared at him in disgust. But Kagome spoke first. "You Monster! You wouldn't understand love! You couldn't understand love! Whatever you had with Kikyo was sick! She never loved you!" Kagoem siad, throwinf on of her hands to her heart. "I should know! Her soul resides within me once again!" She screamed, sending out a burst of pure miko energy.

Naraku growled, low and deep. " _Kill her, Miroku, or I will kill her myself. I have thought of many ways I would like to kill Kikyo. . . and this would be second best to that._"

Miroku glared at Naraku. "Sango. . . take Kagome on Kirere and take her as far away from here as you can." He demanded through clenched teeth.

Sango looked back and forth from Miroku to Kagome. "But, Miroku. . ."

Miroku turned to glare at Sango. "Do it, Sango! I can't fight and be distracted by whether or not she'll get hurt! Get her _out_ of here!"

Naraku smirked. " _Foolish monk. . . you think to take your eyes off of_ ME?" He screamed as he sliced through the air, making a clean sweaping motion across Miroku's chest with his sword.

Miroku gasped and coughed, coughing up blood for the second time in a matter of ten minutes.

"Miroku!" Kagome screamed, running past Sango's arms and making a bee line straight for him. "Miroku, are you-"

"Go away Kagome!" Miroku commanded her, glaring at her. "Get out of here! Now!"

Kagome shook her head. "No, Miroku! I won't leave you alone! This is _our_ enemy! Not yours, not your stupid organization! It is _our_ enemy!" She told him, wrapping her arms around him and glaring at Naraku, as if to form a shield. _I dare you to take him. . ._ her eyes clearly read. _I dare you to take him from me!_

"Don't be stupid, Kagome! Get out of here!" Miroku said as he pushed her off of him.

Kagome bared her tiny human incisors at him. "No! I won't let you do this alone! For the simpy fact that I've come too far to be denied now! He is my kill too!" Kagome said vengefully.

Sango nodded. "She's right, Miroku. She is no longer the girl she was, once upon a time. She is now a warrior worthy of the garbs she donned yesterday, and she deserves to be here as much as the rest of us, if not more so."

Inuyasha nodded, standing up. "Besides. . ." He said, spitting out the blood that poured out of a wound on his lips, ". . . I wouldn't want to have Naraku defeated with out every one of you guys here!"

Sango nodded and Kagome turned to Miroku. "So stand up, Miroku. We are going to fight him . . ." Kagome said, clenching her fist and moving in to a fighters satnce, drawing her bow and arrows from her back. "We are going to fight him, and we _are_ going to win!"

Naraku cocked one eyebrow. " _Awfully confident of you, miko. What powers do you think you possess that Kikyo didn't? What makes you think that you could possibly win, when she, a full developed miko with extraordinary powers, couldn't?_"

Sango turned to Kirere. "Take Shippo and get out of here."

Shippo glared at Sango. "No! I'm staying too!"

Sango frowned down at him. "You're always saying that you are just a kid, yet when the battle is the most dangerous, you want to stay? No. Get out of here, Shippo."

Inuyasha lay one hand on Sango's shoulder, eyes still lock on Naraku. "No. This is his fight too. Shippo stays."

Shippo nodded and took a deep breath. "I _can_ do this!"

Naraku twisted his lips up cruelly. " _How precious. But tell me, monk, how long do you think you'll last_?"

Sango turned to look at Miroku. "What's he talking about, Miroku?"

Miroku clenched his fist and turned his attention solely to Naraku, ignoring her completely.

Naraku sneered. " _What? Didn't you tell your friends that their greatest danger right now isn't me, it's you?_"

Kagome looked down at Miroku's clenched fist. It was throbbing, she could see, and the redness was spreading up his arm. "The hell hole. . . Kagome whispered, grabbing Miroku's left hand in reassurance.

Narku smiled his twisted smile. " _Yes. . . his hell hole. So aptly named, as that's where it's going to take him._"

Inuyasha stepped forward next to Miroku and Kagome. "Miroku. . . how long can you last?"

Miroku smirked. "Do you need to ask? I can hold out as long as I have too."

Inuyasha scoffed. "Leave it to you to be cocky at a time like this!" He screamed as he jumped at Naraku, sword drawn.

Naraku leered at him. " _You fool. . . I am behind a barriar I constructed to specifically keep your sword from breaking through. . ._"

Inuyasha smirked as he leapt righ over the barriar. "Then it's a good thing that's not what I was trying to do. Kagome!" Inuyasha screamed when he landed on the other side, twisting to the edge.

"Right!" Kagome yelled, charging and aiming her arrow. "Hit the mark!" She screamed as she released it in a blinding flash of pure miko energy.

Naraku's eyes widened as he fled his barriar at the last second, chargin for Kagome at unbelievable speeds.

"Kagome!" Miroku screamed, reaching for her. . . but he was too slow.

Naraku sneered as he held Kagome captive and helpess in his arms, her arms pinned uselessly to her sides.

Naraku leaned down and ran his tongue up Kagome's face, chuckling. " _What a lovely little morsal. . . maybe I'll keep her alive after you are all dead. . . you know, to have a little bit of fun with her."_

Miroku hissed. "You Bastard!" He screamed as he grabbed on to his beads, preparing to rip them off.

Naraku chuckled. " _Ah, ah, ah, monk. Unless you want your pretty little miko swallowed up too, you had better point that weapon elsewhere. . . maybe at your other friends. Yes, that would do nicely. Kill them, then kill her._"

Miroku grimaced as he held his beads. _What should he do? What should he do!_ With Kagome in Naraku's hands, he was sure that there was no hope. . .

. . . None. . .

Miroku had always been told that in the end, you remember the beginning. He didn't realize it was literal until just then. He remembered. . .

He remembered watching her bathe herself, then sneaking out of the water, only to come back to watch her bathe her young kitsune companion. . .

He remembered his shock at seeing her the next day on a bike from the future, riding and carrying the shards of the shikon jewel around her neck. . .

His even greater shock when she took such a risk to help her friend by testint the theory that he wouldn't suck an innocent in to his hell hole himself. . .

Miroku's eyes widened. _That's it._

Miroku lifted his beads once again, and stared striaght in to Kagome's eyes.

Naraku chuckled. " _See, miko? He would prefer my head over your heart. . ._" Naraku whispered, unable to keep the fear from his voice.

Kagome looked down at Miroku, preparing to rip his beads off, preparing to unleash hell on _her,_ and. . .

She couldn't hate him. If he was going to kill her, then she would die loving him. She refused to be like Kikyo, who died manipulated by Naraku. Yes, Kagome was being manipulated, but she still had her heart. And she would never, ever let Naraku take that from her.

_I love you._ She whispered on the winds as the unfurled around her.

"Miroku!" She heard four voices scream, surprised that one of them was her own.

_Hush my child. . ._ Kagome's eyes widened in shock as time seemed to slow around her. Kagome looked forward and gasped, shocked when even that seemed a hollow and echoey sound.

_What's going on?_ Kagome asked, touching her throat in surprise when her thoughts were whispered out loud with out her speaking.

A bright light suddenly split out from Miroku's hell hole. Kagome shielded her eyes and stared in awe, for there, in the center of the light, was the most beautiful woman Kagome had ever seen.

_Who are you?_ Kagome asked in her second voice.

The woman smiled. _Don't you know? I am god. Well, goddess as the case may be, but I am the lordly figure who rules you all none the less. _

As Kagome stared, a feeling of warmth broke over her. _Why are you here now? Are you going to take me to heaven, or hell, or wherever I'm going?_

Goddess laughed. _Why of course not, you silly goose! I'm here to reward you!_

Kagome cocked her head. _Reward me? For what? Why?_

Goddess shook her head. _You certainly ask a lot of questions. But, I shall answer them. Never before have I come across someone as pure as you, and I've been around for a while. He could kill you, with one wrong move, but you would die loving him still. Why?_

Kagome smiled. _How could I not love him? He has been my companion in everything. . . and there is still so much about him I don't understand. . ._

Goddess smiled. _That is why you are to be rewarded. You shall have your chance to know him, as you will both live to be old, both live for a long, long time. And when your time comes, as you are so deserving, I shall make sure, personally, that he and you meet again in every one of your lives._

Kagome gasped. _You would do that? But why?_

Goddess shrugged. _You are a good person, Kagome Higurashi, and so is he. Embarking on a quest you could have simply ignored. . . helping all you could. . ._

Kagome smiled. _Thank you, Goddess, for giving me this gift. I shall not abuse it and do my best to deserve it._

Goddess smiled. _You already deserve it. Oh, and I have a message for you from a friend of yours. Says her death isn't your fault. She says to let go of the past, and look towards the future._

Kagome blinked. _Megumi?_

Goddess smiled. _Now, she will need a new name, won't she? That one's mine._ Goddess turned and walked back towards the hell hole. _Oh, and you can understand how I can't have you remember this conversation, right?_

Kagome nodded. _Of course, Goddess. Thank you._

_Good bye now! _She whispered, the light from the hell hole closing around her form. _And. . ._ _thank you, those who have suffered. May you live well._

And then hell began again.

But this time, Kagome wasn't scared in the least.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

"Kagome!" Shippo screamed as he shook her roughly. "Kagome, wake up!"

Kagome moaned and rolled her head. "What happened? Where's Naraku? Where's Miroku?" She asked, sitting up and growing dizzy. "I better take this slow. What happened?"

Sango touched Mirou's vital signs, and frowned, brows marred. "The idiot took a lot of damage. . . that was too reckless of a move."

Inuyasha scoffed. "But it worked." He said, picking up the jewel Naraku had dropped and connecting it with the ones they had gathered. It shone bright pink, before dying down to be a smooth glass ball.

Kagome smiled at it. "May I see it, Inuyasha?" She asked with a weak smile.

Inuyasha didn't say anything. He simply handed it over.

Kagoem stared in wonder at the tiny glass ball. _All of this fighting. . . all of this death. . . all over this? The soul of a dead woman?_ Kagome thought as she stared at the flawledd gem.

Sango sat on her feet, head on her knees. "I have a theory. . . that it wasn't Midoriko's wish to keep fighting that forged the jewel. . . it was her wish to have it _stop._"

Kagome smiled. "How ironic. A jewel forged for peace that can cause nothing but heartache. . ." Kagome twisted and crawled towards Miroku, touching his right hand softly. "What happened here?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I dunno what sort of crazy plan the bastard had, but it worked."

Kagome glared at him. "That's not what I asked and you are avoiding the subject."

Sango laughed. "Inuyasha's just jealous that he wasn't the one that didn't get to kill Naraku. Miroku opened the wind hole on you and Naraku, but he twisted his hand at the last second, so you crashed in to him. But beoreyou both feel to the ground, he swallowed Naraku up too." She said, shaking her head. "If we're gonna talk about irony, how about the irony of Naraku dying by the weapon he gave Miroku."

Kagoem didn't say anything. "Is it really a coincidence? I mean, the means of Naraku's death. . ."

Sango looked at her funnily. "What do you mean, Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head. "He planned out everything. . . I can't believe he gave Miorku's grandfather that weapon without a very spefic purpose in mind. . ."

Inuyasha shrugged and looked to the sky. "I guess we'll never know. . . the bastard's dead now, and if we can't figure somehting out soon, Miroku probably will be too."

Kagoem stared down in horror at Miroku's pale and shaking body. "What? Why?"

Sango pointed to his chest. "He's lost an awful lot of blood. . . and the poison in them can't be helping at all. I don't think there is anything any one _here_ can do for him."

Kagome's eyes widened. "No. . . not here. . ." She turned to face Sango. "Did you say you grabbed _all_ of Miroku's and my things?"

Sango nodded. "Yes, but how will that help us at a time like. . ."

"Get me my cell phone." Kagome said, pointing to her bag. "No! Wait. . . get me _his_ cell phone. He'll probably have someone's number in there that can help. . ."

Sango nodded and quickly began to rummage through Kagome's backpack, which was still on Kirere's back.

"Is he really gone, Kagome?" Shippo asked, wide eyed and innocent.

Kagome smiled down at him. "I don't know, Shippo. It's hard to believe someone who has been such a big part of your life is sudden;y gone, isn't it?"

Shippo nodded, tears in his eyes. "It's finally over. . ."

Kagome stared at the jewel. "That I can assure you." She said as she walked over to Inuyasha, who was sitting next to a tree, staring at the bright stars that littered the sky.

"It's almost morning. . ." Inuyasha noted with a grunt. "I can't believe it's over. . . I don't know what I'm going to live for now." He complained, looking over to Sango.

Kagome smiled, recognizing the look in her friend's eyes. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Yeah, I guess that I am."

Kagome smiled. "I'm glad. . . maybe you'll make a good wish with this." Kagome said, placing the completed Shikon no Tama in his clawed hands.

Inuyasha stared at it. "Kagome, no. I couldn't take it. I know I always claimed I wanted to be a full demon with it, but I just _can't_ anymore. It would be like. . . it would be like I was just like him."

Kagome smiled. "Then don't wish to be a full demon. Wish for soemthing good. Something that will purify the jewel and pacify the spirits within."

Inuyasha stared at the jewel before smiling and tucking it in to his kimono. "Well, I certainly can't leave it with you. You'd probably break it again!"

Kagome smiled. "I'm so happy right now that I won't even sit you for that. But. . ." Kagome looked back at Miroku.

Inuyasha touched her hand. "You supported me through this whole thing. Now I support you. Absolutely one hundred percent. Whatever you chose to do, I believe in you."

Kagome smiled. "Good. Because that makes one of us." Kagome said.

"Found it! Sango yelled, running over to Kagome with a frown. "What are you going to do with it?"

Kagome shrugged. "Figure out how to turn it on then call one of his friends. Maybe they can get him to the future and in to a hospital bed." Kagoem said, flicking on the green switch.

"Oh, Miroku-sama!" A mini naked Kagome greeted the group. Kagome blushed and shook her head and clenched a fist. "If he wasn't dying I would _kill_ him. . ." Kagome swore as she pushed buttons until it began to ring.

Sango stared at it. "What did you do?"

Kagome shook her head. "I dunno! I think I hit redial or something! But-"

"H'llo?" A drugged sounding voice answered from the other end. "Miroku. . . it'd _four a.m._ Couldn't you have called when the sun was up?"

"This isn't Miroku! We have a situtation! Miroku's sick. . . he took in too much venom and he's bleeding and he won't stop!"

"Kagome?" the voice came in confused. "Kagome Higurashi? The time traveler?"

Kagome nodded. "Yes! Just do whatever you do to make it so that he can go back there and get treated!"

The man groaned. "Dammit, Miroku. Leave it to that bastard to get fataly wounded at _four a.m._"

"What's going on, sexy?" A femine voice purred from the man's end.

The man groaned. "Go back to sleep, Mehiuo. I've got to go."

"Umm. . . but I'm hungry. . ." Kagome stared in horror at the phone. _Where all of Miroku's friend's skirt chasing, sake drinking pervs?_

"I'll be there soon, 'kay? Just keep him out of trouble till I get there."

Then the line went dead.

Kagome turned to see Sango and Inuyash astaring in amazement at the phone.

"So. . ." Inuyasha spoke first. "I am going to assume that wasn't his mother?"

Kagome laughed. "I sure hope not!" She said as she turned to Miroku. Leaning down, she cradled his head so that it rested in her lap. "It'll be okay, Miroku. You'll see. Your friend will be here soon."

* * *

As it turned out, soon was one hour and forty three long minutes later.

A man dressed in a leather jacket and jeans stalked out of the forest with a glower on his face. "Why couldn't you guys have parkd your asses in a clearing? The trees are too dense for me to get through, so I had to go soemwhere else and then find you. And you know what? Just because I am Miroku's friend _doesn't_ mean I like trekking around in this crap!" He complained.

Miroku stirred for the first time. " _Suu. . ._ hai." He whispered.

Suuhai glared at him. "Yeah, it's me. What the hell is up man? Getting all beat up? Now I got to take you to a hospital and,"

"No hospital." Miroku said in a small voice. "I want to go to my room. . . _please_."

Suuahi groaned. "Dammit. . . when you ask like that, I can't argue." Suuhai turned to Kagome. "Am I to assume that you're coming with us, Kagome?" He asked with a wink as he picked Miroku up and slung him over his shoulder.

Kagome gasped. "Careful with him! His injured!"

Suuhai groaned. "And heavy! I'll probably pull a muscle or something getting back to the clearing I came in from. . ." He smiled then, and turned to Kagome. "Say, if I got injured, would you tend to me too?"

Miroku growled. "Suuhai. . . don't make me kill you before I've had breakfast. . ."

Suuhai laughed. "Fine. But, man you owe me one."

Miroku smiled, and stared at his now curseless palm. "Yeah. . . I owe _you_ one."

Kagome turned back and grabbed her bag. "I'm gonna go with them now, you guys." Kagome said as she hugged tehm each seperately.

Shippo sniffled. "Alright, Kagome."

Sanog hugged her too. "Are you gonna come back?"

Kagome shrugged. "If I can. . . I don't know how well the well works without the shards of the shikon jewel. . ." She said, smiling at Inuyasha. "But I'm sure that Miroku can use some miracle future device to get us back here."

She leaned in and tugged Inuyasha'a ears one more time.

"Hey! What was that for?" He demanded, rubbing his ear.

Kagome smiled. "In case I can't ever do it again. . ." She said, and leaned in close, whispering, _name your first daughter after me. . ._

Inuyasha blushed, but nodded.

"Kagome! Hurry up!" Suuhai yelled from far ahead.

Kagome smiled and waved goodbye, taking in one last deep breath of the past she wouldn't have had the chance to have if it wasn't for that cursed jewel. . .

She smiled as she caught up with Suuhai and Miroku. _That jewel wasn't completely cursed. . ._ She thought with a nodd of her head. _After all, it brought me to all of them!_

"Are you day dreaming or something? Hurry up, Kagome!" Suuhai told her, though it was he who was panting for breath.

"I'm coming!" She said, catching up and running a little ways ahead. Looking to the sky as the dawn broke over the horizon, Kagome was sure that for a second, she saw Midoriko standing facing the sun, her back to Kagome. But Kagome blinked, and she was gone. She blinked twice in shock before shaking her head. _Did it matter if she had freed the soul of a long trapped Miko?_ No, what mattered was the present. She wasn't sure about the future, nor was she all that certain about her past, but her now she understood perfectly.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

Miroku cracked one eye, then another, waiting for the light to overwhelm him, but there was none. Only darkness in the room he lay in.

"I don't know if he can survive. . . he's received an awful lot of blows and internal wounds. We'll do the best that we can to save him, though." Miroku heard a familiar voice whisper.

_Suuhai?_ Miroku thought, trying to reach up to his brow to clear his head. But at the slightest movement, pain shot through his body, knocking him unconcious once again.

" _Is he going to wake up?_" Miroku heard someone ask in a far away voice from above ask.

" _I don't know. He could, but it could also be in twenty years._" Suuhai answered from much closer. " _Hey, Miroku, if you don't wake up I just may have to steal your girl! She's really cute, and I've never met someone so devoted to such an ugly bastard. Wake up, you freak, or_ I'll _marry her!_"

"Suuhai-kun!" Kagome's face came in to focus, mere inches to his right. But the voice still sounded like it was coming from a distance. "Don't be like that! What if Miroku doesn't want to marry me?"

Suuhai shrugged and with a flirtatous grin, "Who wouldn't want to marry such a pretty lady?" Miroku tried to open his eyes farther, so that they could see he was awake, but couldn't manage to open them far enough for his eye lashes to part. Still, he could see Suuhai clearly when he leaned in to check his pulse. "Vital signs are looking up. If you want, I can kill 'em now so that you don't _have_ to marry him. What, did he get you pregnant or something?" Suuhai asked, all humor gone from his face. Replaced by seriousness Kagome hadn't expected. "Is that it? Does he finally get to have a litter like he always wanted?"

Kagome shook her head with a blush. "Uh. . . no. . . we've never even had sex!"

Suuhai glanced back at Miroku. "Hmm. . . why not, I wonder?" Then he looked back at Kagome, who was clutching at her antique school girl skirt in her lap with one hand and holding Miroku's with the other. Suuhai shrugged as he stepped back, and sat down in a nearby chair. "He must _really_ like you." Suuhai shrugged as he lite a cigrette. "Damn. . . now I can't have you. . . he's practically a brother to me. . ."

Kagome blushed. "Put that out! Miroku's sick! And why would him _not_ having sex with me mean he likes me? He's made love to _lots_ of women he barely knows!"

Suuhai grinned over his cigrette. "Sweetheart, the air here isn't real. All of it's artificial. Though Naraku _is_ dead now, his effects are still in every year. I don't think the miasma will clear for at least a few months, if not _years._ Plus, Miroku grew up in it. I don't think that a little cigrette smoke will bother his lungs in the slightest. And of course he really likes you. And he didn't _make love_ to anyone. That was all sex. Which is why he hasn't had it with you yet." Suuhai let out a hiss of smoke. "My guess is he's waiting for the right moment to make love to you."

Kagome blinked. "Is there a _diffrence_ between having sex and making love?"

If Miroku could have moved he would have patted her head. _She's so adorably naiive!_

Suuhai laughed. "Of course there is! Sex is the act. Making love is the _emotion._" Suuhai smiled as he put hand on Miroku's. "'Course, I make love with all my women. Nothing's half way with me. If you want to try me out, I'm sure something can be arranged." When he grinned, Miroku clenched a fist beneath his hand. "Huh?" Suuhai asked as he looked down at Miroku's face, which was covered in percipitation. Suuhai smirked. "Why you little _bastard._ You wake up in time to hear me taking your woman, huh? Well, what are you gonna do, huh, you useless bastard?"

Miroku twisted his hand so that it captured Suuhai's and jerked him down, bringing his other fist to his face in the movement. "Don't. . . you. . . touch her. . . you _dick._"Miroku managed through the pain that swamped him.

Suuhai jumped back and rubbed his jaw. "Man, any harder and you would have broken my jaw!"

Miroku growled, ignoring the pain as he willed it away. "At least then you would have _shut up,_ useless brat!"

Miroku paused when he heard quiet sobbing next to him, twisting slightly, Miroku was surprised to see Kagome crying in to her hands. "Ka. . . Kagome, what's wrong?" Miroku asked as he tried to sit up, only to fall back down on the bed.

Suuhai was at his side in an instant. "Easy, buddy. I'm sure your girl's just happy to see you alive and back in. . . _fighting form._ Take it easy."

Miroku ignored him. "Kagome?"

Kagome shook her head as she wiped the last of her tears away. "I'm fine. . . really. I'm just so glad. . . _so_ glad. . . that you're alive!" Kagome said as she wrapped both of her arms all the way around him, leaning far in to the bed. "You _are_ alive. . . you aren't in a coma or anything. . . and you're going to get better, right?" Kagome turned to Suuhai. "Right!"

Suuhai put up two hands in defense. "Jeeze, you're as tightly wound as he is. 'course he's gonna get better!" Suuhai grinned at Miroku, who, despite being buried in her breast, was staring in to Kagome's eyes. "Miroku, you didn't teach her very much about yourself, did 'ja? Why does she think she's gonna lose you?"

Miroku groaned. "Suuhai. . . I promise you I won't kill you if you _leave us alone._"

Suuhai whistled. "Well, hot damn, I can take a hint, I know when I'm not wanted!" He told them as he walked out the door. "Try not to overexert him too much. . . despite what he says, he really is a wreak!" Suuhai closed the door barely in time to dodge a pillow Miroku threw at him.

Once Suuhai was gone, Miroku lay down back against Kagome's chest and let her stroke his cheeks in silence.

"Kagome. . ." Miroku said when he couldn't take her searching eyes in silence any longer.

"Miroku. . . you could have died. . . you almost _died._ You almost. . ." Kagome hiccuped as she put both of her hands on either side of his face.

Miroku grabbed both her hands with his and sat up straight. "Kagome. . . I _didn't_ die, so let's stop thinking about it.

Kagome shook her head. "I lost Megumi. . . and I almost lost you too!"

Miroku smiled as he pulled her face to his in a slight kiss, quieting her with out words. "Kagome. . . I don't know how I could go on with out you. . . why in the world did you come after me? I told you all to stay back. . . the hell hole was fracturing. . . what if you had been caught in it? What if it swallowed me and you weren't far enough away?"

Kagome shook her head. "It wouldn't have mattered. . . you weren't going to die. . . I wouldn't let you."

Miroku smiled. _She sounded so assured in that matter. . ._ "And what, pray tell, could you have possibly done to prevent me from dying?"

Kagome smiled as she started to cry again. "I dunno. . . I was hoping I wouldn't have to figure that out." She sobbed as she pressed her forehead against his.

Miroku pulled her down so that her head rested on his shoulder. "Shh shh, Kagome. C'mon, tell me how you managed to get us to my time? Or did Suuhai manage to get all of these things through the time tunnel with him?"

Kagome shook her head. "No. . . after you sucked in Naraku, your hell hole just. . ." Kagome paused. "You remember when I told you that I heard it whisper to me once? Well, it was like it wasn't angry any more. It was like it didn't want any more people to die. . . I could have sworn, though Inuyasha and Sango and Shippo all say that they didn't hear it, so I must be wrong. . . but. . ."

Miroku froze. _It couldn't be. . ._ "What did you hear, Kagome? What did it tell you?"

Kagome smiled and wiped her tears away. "They all tell me I was wrong, but I could have sworn it whispered, _thank you, those who have suffered. May you live well._"

Miroku froze. _What did that mean? Did his hell hole. . ._

"I think that it. . . whatever it was, because I really don't think it was a hell hole, had a _soul._" Kagome said as she turned Miroku's right hand towards her.

Miroku flinched and pulled it out of her grasp before she could see his palm. Kagome pouted and grabbed his hand back. "oh, let me see!" She commanded as she turned the palm to face her. Miroku jerked and tried to pull out of her grasp, but she held strong.

Kagome _hmmed_ as she stared at it. Miroku winced as he watched her expression turn dark and foreboading. "What is it, Kagome?"

Kagome chewed on her bottom lip. "You're life line. . . it's longer then _mine._" She said with a pout as she released his hand.

Miroku stared at his palm in amazement. _He had a life line. . ._ Miroku lifted his palm to the light so that he could examine it himself. _Three main lines: life, wealth, and relationships. . . countless others that determined his fate. . ._ He couldn't remember the last time he had seen it, though he was sure that once upon a time he had.

Kagome picked up her own palm and layed it next to his. "See?" She asked, pointing to his life line, then her own. "Yours stretches all the way down to. . ." she trailed her finger down his palm and around to his wrist. ". . . here, and mine doesn't even reach my wrist!"

Miroku grabbe dher hand and stared at it. _Three lines, just like his. Countless others that determined her fate. All proof that they were undoubtedly, one hundred percent alive._

"Why would you think it wasn't a hell hole, Kagome? Why would it have a soul?" Miroku asked, dropping her palm back in to her lap.

Kagome shrugged. "If you think about it. . . it wasn't _really_ evil. . . I always just thought we called it the hell hole because Naraku gave it to you. . ."

"Why would you think that?" Miroku asked. He had been told since before he was born that it was the hell hole, and had been so for millenia.

"Naraku. . . in a language in my time, English, Naraku translates to hell." Kagome said. "I don't think it was evil. . . it saved _everyone._ If it wasn't for you _hell hole,_ we would have all died. He would have killed Inuyasha, and Shippo, and Sango, and. . ."

". . . Naraku would have killed you. But so would the hell hole." Miroku pointed out.

"Yes, but your hell hole had a voice of it's own. . . the time, right at the end, the voice wasn't the same as before. Before it sounded like Naraku, but this time it sounded like. . ." Kagome frowned. "I dunno. It was so clear, and beautiful. Like an angel." Kagome smiled. "It sounded almost like my mother." She laughed. "But that's silly, isn't it? It couldn't have been my mother!"

Miroku smiled and shrugged. _It wasn't very likely that his hell hole contained Kagome's mother's soul, but with all that they had been through, he wouldn't have been surprised._

Kagome smiled. "Can I ask you a question, Miroku?"

"You just did, but go ahead." Miroku said as he leaned back.

"What are you living for?" Kagome asked quickly with a blush. "Oh, I'm sorry. . . that's probably a really personal question, but you _did_ say that I could ask you one, so. . ."

"Easy, Kagome. I'll answer it, I'll answer. But why would you think about it at a time like this?" Miroku asked a wry grin.

Kagome cocked her head to one side. "At a time like what?"

_God, he loved her._ Miroku smiled. "Never mind. Ask me your question again."

"Everybody has a reason for wanting to live. . . What's yours?" Kagome paused here, before adding on in a whisper so slight he almost missed it. "Miroku."

Miroku shrugged from his bed, shifting the blankets slightly lower on his body. "I dunno. I lived to kill Naraku, I guess."

Kagome shook her head. "You lived for someone's death? It was bound to come sooner or later, you just happened to. . ." she smiled a little here, ". . . hurry it along."

Miroku smiled. "I guess I did. . . but still, it's what I lived for."

They sat in silence in the dark room for a long moment. "Kagome. . ." Miroku whispered, pointing to the window. "Would you be the sweet girl I know you are and open thr blinds for me? And then. . . the window, too, while you're at it."

Kagome jumped up. "Uh, yeah, sure." She said as she ran for the window, throwing it open. "Hey. . . the sun's out again." She noted out loud as she shielded her eyes from the unexpected light.

Miroku smiled at her and decided that if he died here. . . if he died in this room, wounded from a battle he might as well have lost, this would be the memory he would bring with him in to the after life. Kagome, standing against a window filled with light after the long darkness. Kagome, smiling and shielding her eyes as she tried to find out more about him. . . even though she knew him better than anyone else.

"Kagome. . ." Miroku said with a smile.

Kagome looked back at him, and the sun caused a halo of blue to appear on her head. "Huh? What's up, Miroku?"

Miroku shook his head. "It's just that. . ." _No. . . how could he tell her that he loved her_ now, _when he was so sure that he was on his death bed? No, he would tell her when he got better. Because now he lived for. . ._

"I know what I live for." Kagome said as she stuck her head out of the window, letting the morning mist wash over her as she took a breath of the artificial air of the future. "I live. . . for everyone who _can't._" Kagome said as she pulled out of the window, eyes still on the sky. "I live for the ones I have killed. I live for the ones I've watched die. I've lived for the ones who never had the chance."

Kagome thumped down at the edge of Miroku's bed. He winced slightly, but hid the pain from his face so that she wouldn't move away from him. "There. . . I've told you, now you _have_ to tell me what you live for."

"What? And why is that, Kagome?" Miroku asked as he let his hand brush hers.

Kagome immediately gripped his hand, for nothing else to assure herself that he was alive. "Don't you remember? When Megumi went to get us food for the first time, that first night on the cliff side, we watched the sunset and you told me for every question you answered, I had to answer the same. I asked you what you lived for, told you my answer, so now," Kagome smiled as she gave his hand one reassuring squease, "it's your turn!"

Miroku shook his head. _Did it_ matter _if he died today, tomorrow? He may not have a future. . . but he did have now._ "You really don't know what I live for, Kagome?" Miroku asked as he sat up slowly, like a cat stretching, as he looked at her from under his eyebrows. "You really don't know what keeps me going, even now? You really don't know what makes me want to get well, even when I have nothing to live for now, Kagome? You _really_ don't know what makes me want to keep going right now?"

Kagome frowned and crossed her arms. "I wouldn't have asked you if I knew." She said pointedly. "And lay back down, you're injured."

Miroku smiled as he let the covers fall off of him, revealing to her his fully aroused and naked body. "Then be sure to be gentle with me, Kagome."

Kagome gulped and took a step back. Normally, it would have deterred Miroku, having his woman step back, but he knew her well enough to read her. _Hers eyes dillated. . . her lips parted slightly. . . her breath hitched. . ._ Miroku noted as he stalked towards her slowly, only partially out of trying to intimidate her. The other part was the pain of actually moving. But no pain, _absolutely_ no pain, was too great to stop him from taking his now.

"Miroku. . ." Kagome whispered in a husky breath when he backed her against a wall. She gasped. _Was that really her voice?_ She realized then that she really _had_ changed, like Sango had claimed. Physically, mentally, emotionally. She was no longer the little girl who had fallen down the well nearly

Miroku tucked one lock of her hair behind her ear, following the trail his hand lead slowly. Kagome's eyes widened when she felt his lips press against her skull, next to her ear where he had tucked in her hair.

"Kagome. . . you just don't get it. . ." Miroku said as he trailed feather light kisses down her cheek. Slowly, so slow Kagome almost missed the movement, Miroku grabbed both of her hands and stretched them above her head, holding her incapable of any major movement.

"What. . ." Kagome choked out. _My libido must be stuck in my throat. . ._ Kagome thought with a tiny grin. "What don't I understand, Miroku?"

Miroku didn't speak again until his lips were touching hers. "You don't understand that I would give you the _world. . ._ go ahead, Kagome. Ask me for something. Ask me for whatever you want. Whatever you want most in the world, I will give it to you. I'm a hero now. In this time period I _can_ give you whatever you want." He said as he reeked havoc on her lips, leaning in and pulling out, always lightly, always controlled. _Oh, how Kagome wanted to break his control!_

Kagome leaned forward, trying to add to the pressure against her lips, but Miroku just leaned back out with a smile. "No, Kagome. Tell me what you want. Tell me what you want me to give you."

Kagome leaned forward quickly and caught a lock of his loose hair in her mouth. Dragging him towards her using it, she growled at him when his nose touched hers. She opened her jaw slowly, giving him his freedom, but she never released him from her eyes.

"I want _you._" Kagome growled out before she attacked his mouth with hers, throwing all one hundred and twenty eight pounds against him, causing Miroku to tumble back, realeasing her arms as he wrapped his own around her waist.

Kagome made quick use of her arms by wrapping them around his neck, causing him to step back another two feet to maintain his and her weight. His body was screaming in pain, telling him to let her go. . . to conquer her later.

_No. . ._ Miroku thought as he pulled her tighter against him, dragging them back another foot, hitting the back of his knees on the high bed. _I may not have a later. I want her_ now. He could take any pain. . . any pain would be worth being inside of her.

"Miroku. . ." Kagome moaned as she trailed her lips down his chest, rubbing against him, trying to touch every inch of his body, trying to heal all of the wounds that he had, trying to heal allthe wounds she couldn't see.

"Yes. . ." Miroku hissed as he let his head fall back. She touched every inch of his naked flesh, lighting small fires as she went, lower and lower. . . lower.

When she was at his abdomin, Miroku grabbed her by the hair lightly, applying just enough pressure so that she had to look up without hurting her. She did look up. . . she looked up at him with those soft and sultry blue eyes, and she liked the beads of sweat she had picked up off of his body off of her teeth, tongue going slowly over the ridges of her lips.

"What is it, Miroku?" Kagome asked in a voice that made him nearly release his hold on her.

Miroku shook his head. _Get a hold of yourself! You are not dealing with an experienced woman. . . you are dealing with a virgin maiden!_ He reminded himself softly. _He had to slow down. . . had to go slower for her. . ._

"Take off your clothes, Kagome." Miroku commanded as he released her hair and pulled himself in to a full sitting position on the bed. "Take off your clothes for me."

Kagome nodded and dragged herself off of him, only her shirt touching him as she moved.

As soon as Kagome was off of him, she began pulling at her clothes quickly, growling in frustration when she suddenly couldn't grasp the concept of zippers. Miroku grinned, but made no move to help her. Instead, he spoke.

"Slowly, Kagome. Slow down. . . _torture_ with it, going so slow." Miroku commanded.

Kagome obeyed without question. It was like he had some spell over her. _She had to obey. . . she_ had _to do whatever he wanted with her._

"Miroku- sama." Kagome said in that steamy voice as she released the zipper on her skirt, leaving her fingerpads on her flesh. "Whatever you ask of me, I shall obey." She admitted as she dragged her fingertips up. . . slowly. . . _slowly,_ as if savoring the zing her fingers left on her over sensitive skin.

Miroku grinned. "You shouldn't say things like that, _Kagome-chan. . ._ I may feel obligated to hold you to it."

Kagome returned her own smile, a slow, languid smile that caught on something in Miroku's chest as her fingers curled around them hem of her shirt, catching it on her nails. "Please do, Miroku-sama." Kagome dragged the shirt up, her nails scrapping against her skin and leaving a faint pink trail for his eyes to follow. Up. . . up. . .

Kagome watched with a feminine purr of pleasure as she watched Miroku's muscles clench in an obvious effort to stay on the bed, as he flexed and unflexed both of his fist, no longer blocked by his beads.

_So this was the power women are always claiming to lord over their men. . ._ Kagome thought with the satisfaction of one joining a _member's only_ club. "Watch carefullly now, Miroku-sama." Kagome teased as she pulled her shirt over the crest of her breast, revealing her unclad breast to his inspection.

Miroku felt himself nearly surge forward. He sat himself back down with what he regard as godly self restraint. "You, my dear, aren't wearing a bra."

Kagome smiled. "How very deceptive of you, Miroku. I took it off the night Sango gave me back my clothes. . . it was covered in sweat and I would hav erather gone without than to wear _that_ another minute."

Miroku grinned. "How very. . . _unexpected_ of you, Kagome." Miroku mummered while Kagome slowly pulled down her school girl skirt with a small zip. Miroku stared, tranfixed at the movement of her hands as they went up to cradle her breast.

Kagome took a small, insecure step foreward and bit her lower lips, sending him a look that said, in any language, _c'men get me, I'm all yours._

Miroku didn't need to be told twice.

Kagome didn't need to blink- Miroku was on her so fast that if she had she would have missed him pouncing from the bed and towards her if she had blinked. Kagome grinned. _Pouncing was_ exactly _what he did._ He moved like a cat. . . _No,_ Kagome corrected herself. _There was nothing house-cat like about this man. He was more along the lines of a panther. . ._

As if to affirm the fact, Miroku bite her lightly where her shoulder met her neck. Kagome moaned and let her head fall back in submission, wrapping her legs around his waist.

Miroku carried her back to the ned and lay her down on it gently. "Kagome, Kagome, Kagome. . . you have no idea how many times I've imagined you here, like this."

Kagome grinned "In _your_ room?"

Miroku shook his head. "No. . . in my _arms._" He whispered against her collar bone before rubbing a finger against her ribs.

"Don't! I'm ticklish!" Kagome said with a giggle that turned in to a moan. Her laughter had caused her breast to leap up an inch, where Miroku pulled a pink nipple in to his mouth. Kagome panted, shaking her head from one side, then the other.

Miroku grinned while lapping at her nipple. "You like that, don't you?" He asked, letting go the nipple while lowering himself down her body.

Kagome nodded wordlessly, mindlessly.

"Then you're _really _going to like this." Miroku promised from beneath her belly button, hands pinning her waist to the bed as he licked his lips and dove.

"Miroku? What are you- oh god!" Kagome moaned as he caught her clit between his teeth lightly and licked at it hungrily.

"Miro. . . _ku. . ._" Kagome panted as she arched against his hands, trying to added more pressure, trying to fill a spot inside of her she just reliased was empty.

Miroku released her. "That's it, Kagome. Come for me."

Kagome panted, feeling something building inside of her. "Miroku. . . somethings happening. . ." She tried to say quietly, but it came out louder then she had expected.

Miroku climbed up her body, not taking his eyes off of hers. "How many fingers would it take, Kagome?"

Kagome blinked, not entirely understanding.

Miroku nearly came himself when he slipped one finger in and felt her muscles clench hard against it, trying to drag him inside. "One?" Miroku asked, grinding his own shaft against her inner thighs in the motion of sex. "Or two?" He slipped in a second finger.

"MiroKU!" Kagome screamed as she came, riding his hand hard, pulling him in deep enough to feel her maiden head.

"So I'm to be your first in this too, am I?" Miroku asked, recalling to when he had stolen her first kiss.

Kagome was panting, trying to decipher one sensation from the other. She had never felt so energized! It was like every feeling in her body all read as one, unbelievable sensation. When Miroku went to pull his fingers from her body, she automatically clenched her muscles around him, at the same time catching his arm, preventing further movement.

Miroku laughed. "Kagome, you have to let me out of you. . ." His smile grew wider when he saw her shake her head _no._ "Don't worry, Kagome." Miroku said, pushing his hand out of her and rubbing his shaft against her damp folds, micking what he was going to do to her once he got inside of her.

Miroku lifted his fingers to his lips and stared at the juices that covered them. Kagome looked at them and blushed. _Was he disgusted with them? Why else would he be staring at them?_ But then he _really_ shocked her by taking his fingers in to his mouth and licking them clean, staring at her staring at him in fascination.

Kagome wanted to say something, Miroku could see, but she couldn't seem to get any words out. _She was obviously very,_ very _new to this, _Miroku decided as he leaned in and kissed her, to let her taste herself in his mouth.

She responded instantly, instinctively, and arched against him, moving her hips in rhythm with his. Miroku put one hand behind her head, cradling it gently as the other crawled down her body, stopping to massage her clit.

Kagome gasped as she felt herself climbing back towards a climax yet again, and stared wide eyed at Miroku. " _Again?_"

Miroku smiled. "Kagome. . . we haven't even _begun_ yet." Miroku promised as he began to rubbed harder, making Kagome move out of motion with him, trying to get him to catch up with her, to let her set the pace.

Kagome moaned and closed her eyes, savoring each bit of friction, trying to analyze each separate feeling.

Miroku shook his head. "Poor naiive, pretty Kagome. I'm going make you come so many times you won't be able to move for _days._" He promised.

Kagome nodded. "Okay." She agreed as she came again, her juices flowing out to moisten his erection before she feel limp in his arms, willing herself to recoup faster.

Miroku slipped another finger in, testing. After coming twice, he slipped in and out easier than he had expected, and decided that she was ready to take all of him in.

"Kagome. . ." Miroku whispered next to her mouth.

"What is it?" Kagome asked, sounding more than a little pleased.

"I'm sorry. . ." He told her before he covered her mouth with his, then surging in to her in one long, deep motion.

Kagome felt a flash of pain, and her cry of discomfort of him being inside of her was quickly replaced by a moan of pleasure as he shifted a little bit inside of her.

_Wow. . . so_ this _is what all the hubbubb is about. . ._ Kagome thought with a grin. _Totally worth the pain!_

Miroku lifted his mouth from hers. "Clench your muscles." He told her, rubbing his fingertips over her ribs again.

Kagome giggled, and this time when her muscles clenched, she went utterly still. "Oh my god. . ." She moaned as she tried to get him to move.

Miroku smiled. "Get used to me, first Kagome." Miroku told her but at her growl and a rather interesting threat of what she would do if he _didn't_ start to move. . .

He decided it might be in his best interest if he complied.

"Alright. . . slowly at first." Miroku said as he pulled out a little bit, then back in all the way, then out a little more, then in again.

Kagome growled. "Too slow." She said as she cupped his balls and began to massage them. "Slow later, fast _now._" Kagome demanded as she pulled herself off of him, then back down just as quickly, moan and rolling her head back at the sensation.

Miroku grinned. "Who am I to argue with _that?_"

Kagome bite her bottom lip as she rubbed her own breast, adding to the sensations. She had felt herself climbing, higher, faster than the first two times, when Miroku stopped her.

"Kagome, if you come now I won't last two seconds inside of you. I haven't came for a while myself, you know." He admitted.

Kagome ignored him and Miroku grabbed her hands and held them captive in one of his. " _No._" He told her simply, right above her.

Kagome growled at him, commanded him to release her, but he simply ignored her and held her arms above her head and dipped his mouth to the small of her neck. "Please, let _me_ Kagome-sama." He said in a voice that sounded like a dog that had been kicked on too many times.

_This was making love._ Kagome would think back. _Suuhai was right. There was a diffrence between having sex and making love _She had no idea how she could even compare that to _this._ _This_ was bliss. _This_ was the absolute closest she was ever going to be to pure nirvana. _This_ was love.

_This_.

"I love you." Kagome whispered as she came and fell down asleep, completely exhausted.

In Miroku's shock he loosened his chains he held on himself and he came in a fast spurlge right after her, barely able to hold himself enough off of her that he wouldn't _crush_ her.

_She had said it. She loved him. _Miroku thought with a smile. He rolled on to his side and gathered her in to his arms. _And she would spend the rest of her life_ making _love with him._ He swore as he let himself slip in to unconciousness as well.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

Miroku knew he had to be a masochist to let her lie asleep in his arms, arms that were still healing from the brutal battle with Naraku. He could feel his muscles quivering in protest, but he _refused_ to let her go. If he tried to move her, she would wake up and might not touch him, and that simply wasn't an option.

As if the thought of her waking up had disturbed her, Kagome began to wake up slowly, stretching each new muscle she had excercised for the first time the night before with a groan.

" 'Morning." Miroku whispered next to her ear, kissing it softly.

" 'Morning to you too, you insatible beast. You made good on your promise of making me not be able to get up in the morning. I'm all aore and won't be able to walk for a week and you'll have to feed me the whole time." Kagome said, pressing small kisses against his chin.

"Did it ever occur to you to ask me to stop?" Miroku asked, unaware that the husky, breathless voice he had heard had been his own. It was almost surprising as realizing the self-assured seductive one he heard next ahd been Kagome's.

"Did it ever occur to you that I didn't _want_ you to stop?" Kagome asked, pressing her hip in to the crevice of his hips with one purpose in mind. She trailed one finger lazily up his chest, leaving an ache he had never felt before where it touched that turned in to a fire that she seemed to be setting on something he hadn't been aware he had.

She was setting fire on his very _soul_.

"Kagome. . . marry me." Miroku asked suddenly surprising even himself. He had been plannign on asking her, but he was going to have everything perfect. A ring, a dinner, moonlight and candles. Not in his room, half lite by the morning light and dishelved from hours of love making.

"What?" Kagome asked, stopping her administrations on his chin.

Miroku shrugged. _Might as well go all the way. . ._ "You are a goddess and if you don't marry me then I think I will have to kill every man who comes within a hundred feet of you. Starting with Suuhai. And I kinda don't want to kill my best friend, but if you don't have a rock on your finger, he'll consider you fair game, and considering some of the crap I've pulled on some of _his_ girlfriends, I'll bet he has just been planning for when I went exclusive. So you can see where this can pose a problem."

Kagome blinked. "So. . . you want to marry so _Suuhai_ doesn't try to seduce me?"

Miroku shook his head. "No! I mean, I don't want _anyone_ but me to have you, and I want to have a house and a family with you, and I don't really care what century we're in, so you can choose. Damn, I'm making a mess of this." Miroku said, slipping of the bed clad in nothing.

Miroku reached in to his side table draw and pulled out a thin silver ring that had been a birthday gift a few years ago that hadn't fit.

Kagome sat up, pulling the blanket around herself to cover up as Miroku dropped to one knee before her.

"Kagome Higurashi, I love you and would do anything to make you happy. I promise that you will never want for anything if you will you grant me the esteemed honor of being your husband." Miroku said, all emotion gone from his face.

Kagome blinked. _Marry? She was still sixteen! But. . ._

"Say it again."

Miroku blinked twice. "Say it again?"

Kagome nodded. "Say it again."

"Okay. . . Kagome Higurashi, I love you. Will you marry me?" Miroku said, fear of denial etching in to his eyes.

Kagome smiled. "Once more."

"Kagome Higurashi, I love you. Will you. . ." Miroku was stopped short by Kagome, who lunged herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing them both to the floor.

"I love you too and yes! Absa – friggin – lootly yes I will marry you!" Kagome screamed on a laugh as she tried the ring on. Dropping her hand, she laughed when it fell off with a dull clunk.

Miroku grinned. "I was planning on asking you mre formally, but this was all I could manage when I surprise myself." Miroku said as he picked up the ring. "I'll buy you a new one, with a rock the size of your fist."

Kagome grabbed the plain silver band from him. "No! This is my ring! You'll just have to use that big pile of money to reshape this one because it's mine!"

Miroku smiled as he lifted her in to the air, ignoring his protesting muscles. "Ahh, Kagome! What about when people want to see the size of the jewel in it?"

Kagome shrugged. "I'll just tell them the story that lead _up_ to the engagment. Nobody can beat ours!"

Miroku smiled. "And I know how our story is going to end." Miroku said, tapping her nose.

Kagome smiled as she touched her forehead to his. "And how is that?"

"Need you ask?" Miroku said as he swung her in a full circle, kissing away any memory of anything else.

_Seven Months later. . ._

Sango sighed as she sweeped the porch of her hut. After Miroku had slain Naraku, there had been little demon activity. Aside from Shippo, she had only seen a few of them at all, really.

Sango sat down on a pile of wood with a sigh. She wished _something_ would happen, _something_ that would require her skills as a demons slayer, but with Naraku dead and the Shikon jewel's _disapperance_, every thing seemed back to the way it was fifty years ago. Calm, peaceful.

Sango smiled. _Did anyone actually believe that jewel would disappear?_ She shook her head as she went around back.

"Need a hand?" She asked a black haired man with his back to her.

The man turned around and wiped the sweat from his brow with a rag in hand. "Don't be a fool, Sango. You're pregnant, and I won't have anything happen to our babies." A human Inuyasha told her as he ushered her back in to the house.

Sango smiled. "Do you think that they will be little quarters, with doggie ears like you used to have?"

Inuyasha scoffed. "Probably not. I had already wished myself human when I knocked you up. . ."

Sango punched him lightly. "Yeah, but we were married five months ago! I'm six months along, which has to say something about _your_ self control!" Sango yelled at him.

Inuyasha grinned. "You couldn't keep your hands off of me."

"The only reason they were on you was because they were trying to keep _your_ greedy paws off of me!" Sango said, yelping suddenly and gripping at her stomach.

"What! What is it! Should I go get Kaede? Are you going in to labor? Are is the baby okay?" Inuyasha said, running her to the couch, then runnign to the door, then to her side at the couch again.

Sango moaned. "You moron. . . I'm only six months preganant! It's just that I think that the _babies_ aren't too happy at you for yelling at mommy!"

Inuyasha froze. "Babies? As in. . . _plural?_"

Sango glared at Inuyasha. "Unless our kid has four feet, we're gonna have twins!"

Inuyasha touched her stomach, only to be kicked off by three tiny little feet. A wide grin split on Inuyasha's face. "I'm gonna have _two_ babies?"

Sango glared. "You _gave_ me two babies? Uh man, I _really_ wish you had to deliver tham instead of me!" Sango said, but was smiling none the less.

"Hang on. . . I've gotta call Miroku and Kagome! They'll flip!" Inuyasha said as he ran in to the bedroom, fully stocked with items from the future, including a universal adaptor. Inuyasha pulled the cell phone out of it chager, which connnected to the adaptor.

He flipped it open and walked out in to the living room, but frowned when he got the answering machine.

"Hey, Kagome, Miroku! It's me! Sango's having _twins!_ Call me back when you get this message. Bye." Inuyasha said before he flipped it shut.

Sango smiled from her place on the couch. "Well, you certainly have mastered the cell phone!"

Inuyasha grinned. "That's not all! Watch and be amazed as I make hot chocolate in a _microwave!_"

Sango smiled and clapped her hands. "My hero!" She said with a smile as she stroked her stomach lightly.

_And they all lived happily ever after._ . .

_Even when Suuhai tried to get Kagome to call off the engagement._


	20. Epilogue

Title: Once upon a cell phone

Author: Anonymous Fangirl

Summary: This is the _epilogue._ If you don't know the summary by now. . . than you are a hopeless cause. You need some serious help, and I'm not going to be the one to give it to you. Get out and never come back.

Etc: Wow… the epilogue… it's here already? I actually wrote this after I wrote chapter four, so… I've had the story pretty much planned out. Anyways, it's been real great writing this… I hope that I have converted some of you to Miroku Kagome fans. Seriously… the pairing is awesome!

Dedicated: To Kaythren Erum. Your review for chapter ten was, well, it got the story dedicated to you! Suffice to say, it was a pretty awesome review. Thanks for the kick ass reviews! (and I didn't even have to beg _you_!)

Well, here's the epilogue…

And, well, I guess it's time to say goodbye to once upon a cell phone.

Wow… this was my favorite one…

It was good.

It was unconventional.

IT WAS A FRIGGIN MIROKU KAGOME!

On with the fic…

…_Epilogue_

"… and they all lived happily ever after." Kagome told her daughter with a smile as she stroked a single lock of her dark black hair back behind her ear. It was amazing, Kagome realized as she looked back, how much Seira looked like her father. How much she looked like either of them. Her hair was curled, much like her fathers, but the same color as her mothers. Her eyes had the same shape as Kagome's, but they held that glint in them that only Miroku had. Her face was petite but spirited: it fit her well. She was six feet of fireworks jammed in to three and a half feet of six year old girl.

"Mommy, I want to hear the other story. You know, the one about the people who could travel back and forth in time…" Seira said with an expectant look on her face.

Kagome grinned and facked a groan of dismay. "Again? But you heard that one last night!"

Seira nodded knowingly, in a very Miroku fashion. "And the night before, and the night before, and the night before. But I want to hear it again!"

Kagome laughed. "Alright. Let's see, how does it start again?" She asked, looking at Seira through a half closed eye. She tapped her finger against her lips and hmmed…

Seira sighed. "It starts like every other story. Once upon a time…"

Kagome nodded. "Oh yeah! Once upon a time, there was a pretty normal high school girl. She wasn't that special… her grades were average at best and she wasn't at all pretty. One day, she was pulled down a well…"

"… where she woke up a dog demon and he saved her from a centipide demoness who wanted to steal a sacred jewel that was in her body. I know that part mom… can't you skip ahead to boy?" Seira asked with a grin.

"Ah yes, the boy." Miroku said as he suddenly appeared behind Kagome, stopping her from falling backwards in fright by hocking one arm behind her back. "The boy was devilishly handsome, and from much farther in the future than the girl. The girl would tell the boy otherwise, but she was immidiately smitten with him."

"She was not." Kagome said.

"Was too!" Miroku and Seira said with smile.

"She had to have been, mom!"

"Why is that?" Kagome asked with a grin plastered on her face.

Miroku shrugged. "Because he was hopelessly smitten with her."

Seira held a finger to her lips. "But she was suppose to be with the dog demon… everyone thought so!"

Miroku shook his fingers. "Not the boy. He knew that she deserved better."

Kagome threw her arms in the air, feiging exhastperation. "Who's telling the story here?"

"Sorry." Father and daughter said simultenously.

"Anyways, the girl considered the boy a dear friend, until one day they were trapped with a goddess in a holy spring. That day, they both began to care for each other much more. They began to notice little things about each other."

Seira sighed. "Mommy, you skipped the part with the cell phone!"

Miroku flopped next to Seira. "Yeah, the cell phone!"

Kagome laughed. "Fine, maybe the girl began to think of the boy as more than a friend when he showed her that he was from the future by stealing her cell phone."

"I did not steal it." Miroku said calmly.

"You did too. You pulled it right out of my hands."

"The call was for me."

"Besides the point. It was my cell phone."

"So? You stole my cell phone later on!"

"Only because I thought you were going to die and I wanted them to take you to your time when you could be properly treated!"

"You still stole it."

"You stole mine first."

"Point?"

"Moot."

"Mommy, daddy, please. Just finish the story." Seira said with a yawn.

Kagome shook her head. "Alright. So the girl and the boy had many adventures together after that, and they grew farther apart from their friends and closer to each other with each one."

Kagome didn't feel the need to cry as she looked back. They all paired off well. Shippo ended up with Ayumi after she joined them, Sango and Inuyasha lived together in as close to peace as _they_ could ever have, and Miroku and Kagome…

Kagome looked down at Seira, her own little girl.

"Naraku was angry with the boy for being happy. He threatened the boy with the girl, telling him he would kill her, and make her hate him. He would take her from him. The boy couldn't allow that." Miroku said with his face grave as he stroked his daughters hair.

"The girl didn't know it at the time, but she was in grave danger and the boy would stop at nothing to save her." Kagome continued.

"So they set off together to destroy Naraku." Seira said, yawning deeply. "Skip to the part where the boy saves her."

Miroku grinned, a cocky half grin that had Kagome groaning. _He_ always got to tell this part! "Well, the girl, who was now hopelessly in love with the boy, wanted to save him from the hell hole in his hand and everything else that could have possible hurt him. So she ran away, hoping that all of the danger would follow her instead of him." Miroku shook a finger at Kagome. "The foolish girl thought that it would make things all better, but it actually caused the boy to over exsert himself in a battle, fracturing his hell hole. Then Naraku had came, determined to watch the boy suffer in his fainal moments. When it seemed the boy would stop at nothing to have Naraku's head, he swept up the girl and used her as s shield. He didn't faulter and released the hell hole."

Kagome shuddered as she remembered the voice Naraku used. The voice he used when he was so sure he won. _See Kagome? He would rather have my head than your heart…_

"But the girl trusted the boy now, and smiling, she allowed herself to be pulled in. At the very last second, the boy tilted his hand and the girl crashed in to him.. He held her tightly as he finished off Naraku with the very weapon he had given him."

Kagoem smiled as she looked down at her daughter, _their_ daughter, the result of their love. She had fallen asleep, and was being tucked in by her loving daddy/

"Do you think they'll live happily ever after?" Kagome asked as she kissed her daughter on the cheek.

Miroku swept her up in to his arms and kissed her, just like he had proposed to her, all those years ago. "I know they will." Miroku said as he pulled her out of the room, bridal style.

Kagome giggled. "You know, Miroku, Seira had wanted a little sister or brother…"

Miroku threw his head back and laughed a deep hearty laugh that was becoming a more and more often occurance. "That's my girl!"

At the foot of the stairs that lead up in to their rooms, Kagome put her head in to the crock of Miroku's neck. "I've been thinking…"

"Yeah? About what?" Miroku asked as he spun around in one circle before beginning the ascent up the stairs.

"Our story should be made in to a kids book. You know, with art and stuff."

"Art and stuff…" Miroku said with a hearty chuckle. "And I know just where we should start it."

"Where?" Kagome asked, cocking her head to one side.

Miroku shrugged. "Seira said herself that she likes to skip to the part where you find out I'm from the future."

Kagome giggled. "Yeah… we can start it with, _once upon a cell phone…_"

Miroku shrugged. "Sounds good to me." He kicked the bedroom door shut behind him with smile.

_. . . Fin._


End file.
